549 
R6M4 






^^\^A 




EARLY ROCK ISLAND 




MA-KA-TAI-MK vSHKKIA KIAK. 

BI^ACK HAWK. 



EARLY ROCK ISLAND 



BY 

WILLIAM A. MEESE 



PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE 
ROCK ISLAND COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



MOIJNE, ILLINOIS 

PRESS OF DESAULNIERS & CO. 

1905 






, „ I ■ — — ^ 

JUBRARY of OONdKESS 
' Two OopiN H«Cti!«tV 

! JAN 27 IdOb 

! 

I COPY e. 



Kiittrtil Acciiniiiiif to Hit- Act of Congress in tlic Year 1905 

By WII^LIAM A. MEKSH 
In thf Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washinj^ton 



IS^ 





INTRODUCTION 

TN this sketch, Karly Rock Island, I have aimed to 
-*- collect all data and facts relating to this county up to and 
including the year 1832. I give an account of the Sacs 
and Foxes, because they were the only redmen of whom we 
have knowledge who maintained in this county anything 
like a permanent habitation, and because it was with these 
people that our government went to war, the cause of that 
war being possession of the soil of what is now Rock Island 
County. I have tried to collect all data regarding the early 
settlements and the part the early settlers took in the Black 
Hawk war, also the early history of Fort Armstrong. I do 
not feel warranted in saying that I have collected all that 
is of interest or that bears on this county during the period 
I have tried to cover. In this sketch I merely put in 
print and preserve for those who desire it such data as I 
have been able to collect, hoping that as each new item is 
found it will be added to Early Rock Island. 

In making my research I have consulted, among others, 
Black Hawk's autobiography, John W. Spencer's Remi- 
niscences, Benjamin Goble, Elliott's Black Hawk War 
Records, Stevens' Black Hawk War, Thwaite's Essays in 
Western History, Rock Island County Past and Present, The 
Wisconsin Historical Series, Flagler's Rock Island Arsenal, 
and the following Histories of Illinois: Breese, Mason, 
Davidson and Stuve, Ford and Reynolds, besides making 
some original research in the records of the war department. 

WH^LIAM A. MEESE. 

December 1, 1905. 



Part I 

The First Inhabitants, Sacs and Foxes, Indian Treat- 
ies, Sac and Fox Customs, Their Homes, the Rock 
River Village, Its Name, Indian Population, First 
Explorers, Campbell's Battle, First White Settlers, 
Land Settlements, Establishment of the County. 



Early Rock Island 



Part I 



THE FIRST INHABITANTS. 

THE first people of whom we have knowledge, who 
inhabited the country now known as Rock Island 
county, were the rednien. What tribes first occupied this 
ground is not known, but in the first part of the seventeenth 
century it was the hunting grounds of the once powerful 
tribes known as the Illiiii, or Illinois, who were a confedera- 
tion of several tribes, chief among whom were the Tamoroas, 
Michigamies, Kaskaskias, Cahokias, Peorias, and with whom 
were also classed the Mascountins, sometimes called the Sixth 
tribe. These tribes all were of the great Algonquin nation. 
Marquette in his journal speaks of meeting the Illini in 1673, 
when he stopped at the Des Moines River, and afterwards 
when, on his return, he came by waj^ of the Illinois River 
from its mouth to Lake Michigan. The scene of the 
Illinois' main residence was, however, in the central and 
southern parts of the State. 



THE SACS AND FOXES. 

About 1680 northwestern Illinois became the home and 
the hunting ground of the Sacs and Foxes. The word " Ou- 
Sakis" or "Sau-Kee," now written Sac, is derived from the 
compound word "A-Sau-we-Kee" of the Chippewa language, 
signifying yellow earth, and " Mus-qua-Kee," the original 
name of the Foxes, means red earth. These tribes originally 
lived on the St. Lawrence River near Quebec and Montreal. 
The Foxes were the first to migrate west. They settled along 
the river that bears their name and which empties into 
Green Bay. 



The Sacs after a long and bloody war with the Iroquois 
were driven from the St. Lawrence River westward. They 
were next engaged in war with the Wyandottes, and again 
were they compelled to hurry towards the setting sun, until 
at length they reached Green Bay on Lake Michigan, near 
where the Foxes had made their habitation. Here it seems 
both tribes were frequently attacked by other tribes, until 
at last they united, forming an offensive and defensive union, 
each retaining its tribal name. Through intermarriage and 
long residence they became substantially one people, an 
alliance lasting to this day. Both the Sacs and Foxes belong 
to the Algonquin family. 

At what time these two tribes came to Green Bay is not 
known. Marquette's map of 1673 locates the Foxes on the 
Fox River between the present Green Bay and Lake Winne- 
bago. Father Claude Allouez, when he established the mis- 
sion of St. Francis Xavier in 1669, found them located near, 
and in 1672 he commenced preaching the gospel to them. 
Early in the eighteenth century they were driven from 
Green Bay and the Fox River by the Menominees, who were 
aided by the Ottawas, Chippewas and the French. 

The Sacs and Foxes made depredations on the French trad- 
ers and exacted tribute from them, whereon the French 
commandant of the post at Green Bay took a party of his 
men in covered boats, and while distracting the attention of 
the Indians, opened fire on them at the same time that his 
Menominee allies attacked the Fox River, Sac and Fox 
village from the rear. Those who survived the slaughter 
removed to the Mississippi River. On arriving there they 
found that country inhabited by the Sauteaux, a branch of 
the Chippewa tribe. Upon these they commenced war, 
finally driving them out of the country, which they then took 
possession of and occupied. This was about 1722. 

These tribes next waged war upon the Mascoutins and 
in a battle opposite the mouth of the Iowa River defeated 
and almost exterminated this tribe. They then formed 
an alliance with the Pottawattomies, Menominees and Winne- 
bagoes, and together attacked the Illinois and gradually 
drove these people further southward. In 1779, on the 26th 



10 



of May, these allied tribes made an attack upon the Spanish 
post and village, now St. Louis, killing a large number of 
the citizens "and almost capturing this post. 

The Sacs and Foxes have warred with the vSioux, the 
Pawnees, Osages and other Indians, and their record shows 
that they ranked among the fiercest and most warlike tribes. 
Drake said of them : ' ' The Sacs and Foxes are a truly 
courageous people, shrewd, politic and enterprising, with 
not more of ferocity and treachery of character than is com- 
mon among the tribes by whom they were surrounded." 



TREATIES WITH THE SACS AND FOXES. 

The first recognition by our government of the Sacs and 
Foxes was in the treaty made at Ft. Harmar, January 9, 
1789, which guaranteed: "The individuals of said nations 
shall be at liberty to hunt within the territory ceded to the 
United States, without hindrance or molestation, so long as 
they demean themselves peaceably and offer no injury or 
annoyance to any of the subjects or citizens of the said 
United States." 

In 1804 William Henry Harrison, governor of Indiana 
territory, and afterwards President of the United States, was 
instructed by President Jefferson to institute negotiations 
with the Sacs and Foxes to purchase their lands. At this 
time, Black Hawk had risen to the position of war chief of the 
Sac tribe. Four chiefs or headmen of the Sacs and two chiefs 
of the Foxes went to St. Louis, and November 3, 1804, made 
a treaty with Governor Harrison. By this treaty the Indians 
ceded all their lands, comprising the eastern third of the 
present state of Missouri and the territory lying between the 
Wisconsin River on the north, the Fox River of Illinois on 
the east, the Illinois on the southeast, and the Mississippi 
on the west, in all fifty million acres. For this grant the 
United States guaranteed to the Indians "friendship and 
protection," paid them $2,234.50 in goods, and guaranteed 
them goods each year thereafter to the amount of $1,000, 
$600 of which was to be paid to the Sacs and $400 to the 
Foxes. By this treaty it was provided in Art. 7: 

n 



' ' As long as the lands which are now ceded to the United 
States remain their property, the Indians belonging to the 
said tribes shall enjoy the privilege of living and hunting 
upon them." This article in the treaty caused much trouble 
between the government and the Sacs and Foxes, and was 
the main cause of the Black Hawk war. Black Hawk 
was not present at its making, and always denied the right 
of the headmen of the Sac tribe to sign such a treaty for his 
people. 

In the spring of 1804 a white person (a man or boy) was 
killed in Cuivre settlement by a Sauk (Sac) Indian. A party 
of United States troops was sent from St. Louis to the Rock 
River village to demand the murderer. The Sacs surrendered 
and delivered him to the soldiers and he was conveyed to St. 
lyouis and turned over to the civil authorities. During the 
latter part of October, 1804, Quash-quame, one of the Sac 
chiefs, together with others of his tribe and some of the 
Foxes, went to St. Louis to try and secure the release of 
the Sac murderer who was a relative of Quash-quame. It is 
an Indian custom and usage that if one Indians kills another, 
the matter is generally compromised with the murdered man's 
relatives for a property consideration, as Black Hawk said : 
"The only means with us for saving a person who killed 
another was by paying for the person killed, thus covering 
the blood and satisfying the relatives of the murdered man," 
and the Sacs believed that by the giving of ponies and pelt- 
ries to the whites they could secure the Indian's release. 

Thomas Forsyth, for many 3^ears an Indian trader and 
from 1816 until 1830 the agent of the Sacs and Foxes, in a 
manuscript written in 1832 says of this matter: "Quash- 
quame, a Sauk chief, who was the head man of this party, 
has repeatedly said, 'Mr. Pierre Choteau, Sen., came several 
times to my camp, offering that if I would .sell the lands on 
the east side of the Mississippi River, Governor Harrison 
would liberate my relation (meaning the Sauk Indian then in 
prison as above related), to which I at last agreed, and sold 
the lands from the mouth of the Illinois River up the Missis- 
sippi River as high as the mouth of Rocky River (now Rock 
River), and east to the ridge that divides the waters of the 
Missi.s-sippi and Illinois Rivers, and I never sold any more 

12 



lands.' Quash-ciuaine also said to Gov^ernor Edwards, 
Governor Clark and Mr. Auguste Chouteau, commissioners 
appointed to treat with the Chippewas, Ottawas and Potto- 
wattamies of Illinois River, in the summer of lcS16, for lands 
on the west side of Illinois River : ' You white men may put 
on paper what you please, but again I tell you, I never sold 
my lands higher up the Mississippi than the mouth of Rock 
River.' " 

It is claimed that the Indians were drunk most of the time 
they were in St. Louis, a thing not unlikely. Forsyth said 
the Indians always believed the annuities they received were 
presents, and when he in 1818 informed them it was part of 
the purchase price of their lands, " the}' were astonished, and 
refused to accept of the goods, denying that they ever sold 
the lands as stated by me, their agent. The Black Hawk in 
particular, who was present at the time, made a great noise 
about this land, and would never receive any part of the 
annuities from that time forward." 

When it became known that certain chiefs and headmen 
had without authority sold their lands, Quash-quame and his 
companions were degraded from their ranks, Tiama, the 
son-in-law of Quash-quame, being elected to his father-in- 
law's place. 

In 1815 a part of the Sacs and Foxes had migrated to the 
Missouri River, and September 13, 1815, these Indians sent 
representatives to the Portage des Sioux, where each tribe 
made a separate treaty with the government, agreeing to 
ratify the treaty of November 3, 1804, and to remain separate 
from, and render no assistance to, the Sacs and Foxes then 
living on Rock River. 

On the 13th day of May, 1816, another treaty was entered 
into at St. Louis. This treaty was between the "Sacs of 
Rock River" and the government. It reaffirmed the treaty 
of 1804 and all other contracts heretofore made between the 
parties. To this treaty is attached the mark of Ma-Ka-tai- 
me-She-Kia-Kiak, or "Black Sparrow Hawk," as Black 
Hawk was also called. Yet Black Hawk said in 1832 : 
"Here, for the first time, I touched the goose quill to the 
treaty not knowing, however, that by the act I consented to 



13 



give away my village. Had they explained to me I should 
have opposed it and never would have signed their treaty as 
my recent conduct will clearly prove." 

In the treaty of 1804 the government had agreed, in order 
to put a stop to the abuses and impositions practiced 
upon the Indians by private traders, to establish a trading 
house or factory where these Indians could be supplied with 
goods cheaper and better than from private traders. This 
the government concluded it was best not to continue, and 
a new treaty was made by which the United States paid the 
Indians $1,000 to be relieved from this obligation. Black 
Hawk signed this treaty. Another treaty was made August 
4, 1824, which reaffirmed and recognized all former treaties. 
Each treaty left the Sacs and Foxes with less land and fewer 
rights. 

For years there had existed a bitter feeling between the 
Sioux and the Sacs and Foxes, and August 19, 1825, William 
Clark and Lewis Cass on behalf of the government assembled 
these tribes, together with the Chippewas, Menominees, Win- 
nebagoes, lowas, Ottawas and Pottawattomies, at Prairie du 
Chien, and entered into a treaty whose object was to end the 
wars between these nations. In this treaty it was agreed 
that the United States should run a boundary line between 
the Sioux and the Sacs and Foxes. It seems that this treaty 
proved unsatisfactory to the Indians, for July 30, 1830, 
another treaty was entered into at Prairie du Chien in which 
the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States a tract of land 
twenty miles in width lying south of the line established by 
the treaty of August 19, 1825. The Sioux also ceded a strip 
twenty miles wide along the north line of said boundary. 
This forty mile strip was neutral territory, open to all for 
hunting and fishing, and was along the Iowa River. 




14 



SAC AND FOX CUSTOMS. 

The Sacs qnd Foxes had many peculiar customs, one being 
that each male child was marked at birth with either white or 
black color, the Indian mother alternating the colors so that 
the nation was evenly divided between black and white. 
This distinction was kept alive during life, the object being 
to create rivalry and a spirit of emulation between the mem- 
bers of the tribe. Thus black was the competitor of white in 
their games and social customs, and each side tried to outdo 
the other, and in war to take more scalps. 

Marriage among the Sacs and Foxes required only the con- 
sent of the parties and their parents. The husband could at 
any time divorce his wife or add another if he deemed best, 
and although the marriage ties were not strong, the ties of 
consanguinity were rigidly preserved. Hereditary rights 
were traced through the female line. This was accomplished 
by means of the Totem, an institution or emblem which 
serv^ed as a distinction for the different clans or families. 
The family surname was represented by some bird or animal, 
such as Eagle, Hawk, Heron, Deer, Bear, etc. Each Indian 
was proud of his Totem — in fact it represented a fraternity or 
secret society. As the different members of a clan were 
connected by ties of kindred, they were prohibited from 
intermarriage. A Bear might not marry a Bear, but could 
marry an Eagle, Hawk, or member of any other clan. This 
Totem system furnished the means of tracing family lineage 
through all their years of wandering and preserved their 
hereditary rights. 

The Sacs and Foxes had from the early part of the eight- 
eenth century occupied the banks of the Mississippi between 
the mouth of the Missouri and the Wisconsin, the Sacs 
occupying the eastern side of the river, and the Foxes its 
western banks. 



15 



THE HOMES OF THE SACS. 

The Sac's house or wigwam was made by setting posts in 
the ground and siding it with bark. On top of the posts 
small poles were laid for rafters upon which strips of bark 
were laid. These wigwams were about eighteen feet wide 
and from twenty to sixty feet long. West of the Rock River 
village the Indians cultivated nearly two thousand acres, 
raising corn, beans, squashes and melons. The Sacs and 
Foxes planted their corn in the same hill year after year. 
They would dig up the hill each year and plant the corn in 
the middle, cultivating it with a primitve hoe and hoeing 
it three or four times during a season. These corn hills 
were quite large, many of them being still visible a few 
years ago. The farming was done principally by the women 
assisted by the old men and children. From the year 1780 
to about 1820, the traders at Prairie du Chien came to the 
Sac village for all the corn they used. After the crops were 
harvested, the Sacs would prepare to leave for their winter 
hunt. Before going they would dig a round hole in the 
ground about eighteen inches in diameter. Carefully remov- 
ing the sod and digging five or six feet they would enlarge it 
so that it would hold many bushels. These holes they would 
line with bark and dry grass and then fill up with their 
grains and vegetables. When full they would replace the sod 
and remove all traces of earth, often building a fire over it so 
that no enemy could find the place and steal the supply they 
had laid up for the next spring and summer. When this was 
done the Sacs and Foxes would go off into Iowa and Missouri 
where they would hunt. In the winter their houses were 
made by sticking poles in the ground and bending them over 
so as to form a half circle about twelve feet in diameter. 
These were covered with rugs woven of grass and with hides. 



16 



THE ROCK RIVKR VILIvAGE. 

The chief" Sac village was located on the north bank of 
Rock River about three miles from its mouth, and was built 
about 1730. It was one of the largest Indian towns on the 
continent and had a population often as high as three 
thousand. It was the summer home of the Sacs. Here was 
located the tribal burying ground, a spot more revered by an 
Indian than anything else on earth. Here reposed the bones 
of a century of the Sac warriors, their wives and children, 
and here each Sac came once each year to commune with his 
friends and family who had departed to the ' ' happy hunt- 
ing grounds." On these occasions all vegetation was 
removed from the mound and the mourner addressed words 
of endearment to the dead, inquiring how they fared in the 
land of spirits, and placed food upon the graves. The Sacs 
were particular in their demonstrations of grief. They 
darkened their faces with charcoal, fasted and abstained from 
the use of vermilion and ornaments of dress. 

Black Hawk said, "With us it is a custom to visit the 
graves of our friends and keep them in repair for many years. 
The mother will go alone to weep over the grave of her child. 
After he has been successful in war, the brave, with pleasure, 
visits the grave of his father, and repaints the post that marks 
where he lies. There is no place like that where the bones of 
our forefathers lie to go to when in grief. Here, prostrate 
by the tombs of our forefathers, will the Great Spirit take 
pity on us." 




17 



NAME OF THE VILLAGE. 

The old Indian town is by some called "Saukenuk." 
How this name originated is not known. The first to use it 
was Armstrong in his " Sauks and the Black Hawk War," 
published in 1887. Catlin refers to it in 1837 as " Saug-e- 
nug," yet none of our pioneer settlers mention it except as 
the "Sac Village," or "Black Hawk's Village." Judge 
Spencer in his " Reminiscenses," in speaking of the year 
1829, says: "We were here but a few days when two Indians 
came, the first we had seen. One of them commenced talk- 
ing in a loud voice in the Indian language of which we could 
not understand a word. By pointing to the wigwam, 
saying, ' Saukie wigeop,' then pointing to the ground say- 
ing, ' Saukie-Aukie,' and repeating this many times we 
understood he claimed the land and the wigwam belonged to 
the Indians." Caleb At water, who was the commissioner 
employed by the United States to negotiate with the Indians 
of the upper Mississippi for the purchase of their mineral 
lands in 1829, was unable to learn the name of the Sac town, 
whether because it had none or because the Indians did not 
care to name it, is not known. 

In his Journal (1805), Lieutenant Pike says: "I was 
informed by a Mr. James Aird," an English trader who came 
to this country about 1778, that this Sac village "was burnt 
in the year 1781-2 by about 300 Americans, although the 
Indians had assembled 700 warriors to give them battle." 
Black Hawk makes no mention of such event which, had it 
happened, he would have known. Yet, as Indian character 
always prompted them to proclaim their victories and to 
remain silent as to their defeats, such an event may have 
happened. The village probably ^vas destroyed by Don 
Eugenic Pourre on his return march from St. Joseph, 
Michigan, to St. Louis. Pourre in the winter of 1781 left St. 
Louis with a small army consisting of sixty-five Spanish and 
French militiamen and about sixty Sioux and other Indians, 
and marched across Illinois to capture the small British post 
at St. Joseph. This was taken in January, 1781. The Span- 
ish troops remained at St. Joseph but a few days and then 
returned to St. Louis. It is not known by what route 

18 



either inarch was made, yet if the hnniiti}^ did happen, it 
undoubtedly was this Spanish expedition that made the 
attack in retaliation for the attack of the Sacs and Foxes on 
the Spanish post of St. Louis in 1779, and, as the sacking and 
burning was in the winter, no large number of Indians would 
have been at the Rock River village, the tribe at this time 
being absent on its winter hunt. 



POPULATION OF THE SACS 
AND FOXES. 

In 1805 Lieutenant Zebulon Pike on behalf of the United 
States government made an expedition from St. Louis to the 
sources of the Mississippi River. He says that the Sacs had 
three villages, one at the head of the Des Moines rapids, the 
second on a prairie about two miles from the Mississippi at 
Oquawka, and the third on Rock River about three miles 
from its mouth. The Foxes or Reynards also had three 
villages, one on the Illinois side above the Rock Island 
rapids, one at Dubuque, and one near Prairie du Chien. 
Pike estimated that the Sacs numbered 2,850 souls, of whom 
1,400 were children, 750 women and 700 warriors. The 
Foxes numbered 1,750, of whom 400 were warriors, 850 
children, 500 women. In 1825 the Secretary of War esti- 
mated the entire number of Sacs and Foxes at 4,600, an 
increase of over one thousand in twenty years. In 1831, at 
the commencement of Indian hostilities preceding the Black 
Hawk war, there were twenty families of whom twelve were 
Sacs and eight were Foxes, and their total number is esti- 
mated to have been five thousand souls, this number 
including those living in Iowa and Missouri. 




19 



BLACK HAWK AND KEOKUK. 

At the commencement of the nineteenth century and up to 
the Black Hawk war, the principal and central figure of the 
redmen in the Upper Mississippi valley was the Sac chief, 
Black Hawk, who was born at the Indian village on 
Rock River in 1767. Black Hawk was of middling size and 
as Catlin says, "with a head that would excite the envy of 
a phrenologist, one of the finest that heaven ever let fall on 
the shoulders of an Indian." Another Sac chief who had 
risen from the ranks was Keokuk. His advancement was 
due to his raising a war party to defend his nation from an 
expected attack of the Americans during the War of 1812, 
but which attack never occurred. Although polygamy was 
practiced among the Sacs and Foxes, Black Hawk had but 
one wife while Keokuk had seven. Keokuk was also born at 
the Sac village on Rock River in 1783, and died in April, 
1848, at the Sac and Fox Agency in Kansas. 

Early in the nineteenth century there seems to have arisen 
a difference between the Sacs and Foxes. Uieutenant Pike, 
writing in 1805, says : 

But recently there appears to be a schism between the 
two nations, the latter (Foxes) not approving of the inso- 
lence and ill will which has marked the conduct of the 
former (Sacs) towards the United States on many late occur- 
rences." This disagreement continued to grow, and while 
some of the Foxes held with the Sacs, most of the Foxes 
were inclined to be well disposed to the Americans, as were 
some of the Sacs, and these friendly Indians arrayed them- 
selves under Keokuk's standard while the war party held to 
Black Hawk. Black Hawk and Keokuk were thus rival 
chiefs. Keokuk had never done anything that entitled him 
to leadership. The Indian standard of character and honor 
made it the duty of an Indian to be foremost in the ranks of 
the war party. Keokuk had few victories to his credit, but 
he was diplomatic. In 1828 he moved with his following 
across the Mississippi and built a village on the Iowa. 

Black Hawk, like Keokuk, was not an hereditary chief, 
but had risen to the position of chief of the war party 
through the native vigor of his character and his great suc- 

20 



cess in war. Black Hawk had never suffered defeat. His 
band, which was much the larger, comprised the chivalry of 
the Sac and Fox nations. At the beginning of the War 
of 1812 he offered the services of his nation to the Americans, 
which from motives of humanity they declined. Yet the 
British were not loth to accept them, for directly after this 
we find that L,a Guthre, an agent of Great Britain, was at 
the Rock River village to enlist the Sacs and Foxes on the 
British side and against the Americans, and we find them 
fighting us in the War of 1812. From this fact and from 
this time. Black Hawk's band was known as the "British 
Band." A study of Black Hawk's life discloses that he pos- 
sessed those qualities which in a white man would raise him 
to power and position. Black Hawk was the great Indiayi 
commoner. Keokuk was noted as an Indian orator, Black 
Hawk as an Indian warrior. 



THE CAUSE OF INDIAN WARS. 

Every so called Indian war in this country originated in a 
desire on the part of the white man to possess the home and 
the hunting grounds of his red brother. Discovery by the 
European nations was considered a right to extinguish the 
redman's title. England's policy then as now was to claim 
that all title to land was vested in the crown, that her sub- 
jects might occupy the soil, but could not alienate it except 
to her own people. England treated the Indians as she did 
her own subjects. When the United States at the close of 
the Revolutionary war succeeded to this country from the 
Atlantic to the Mississippi, the same principles regarding the 
title to the Indian lands were carried out; and while in every 
instance our government has secured title and extinguished 
Indian rights, by treaty or purchase, we must admit that the 
consideration was the most trivial, and too often acceptance 
on the part of the redman was influenced by the force of 
arms. 

" Did the redman foresee his impending doom, his forced 
retreat towards the setting sun, the gradual breaking up of his 
power and the final extinction of his race?" Careful study 

21 



of Indian history leads us to believe that among the Indians, 
as well as among the white men, there were those who saw 
the coming storm, " who saw the threatening cloud coming 
from the east, small at first, scarce a shadow, but gradually- 
becoming more distinct and greater as it traveled westward, 
and, when it reached the summit of the Alleghanies, it 
assumed a darker hue ; deep murmurs, as of thunder, were 
heard ; it was impelled westward by strong winds and shot 
forth forked tongues of lightning." On the plains of Abra- 
ham, when French supremacy west of the Alleghanies was 
forever lost, and Pontiac stood before the British officer who 
was to proceed westward to secure the fruits of victory and 
said, "I stand in thy path," he realized the impending 
conflict, and his note of warning to the chiefs of his nation to 
"Drive the dogs who wear red clothing into the sea" was 
his last appeal to save his race. Fifty years later Tecumseh 
fell a martyr to the Indian cause; and his efforts to stem the 
westward march of the white man failed. For three years 
after that Tuscaloosa strove in vain to save his nation, and in 
1832 the Sacs and Foxes on Rock Island soil, under the 
leadership of their great chief Black Hawk, made the last 
determined Indian defense of their homes and the resting 
place of their forefathers. 



SACS AND FOXES OF TO-DAY. 

After their removal to Iowa, they by treaties in 1836 and 
1842 ceded all their lands up to the Missouri River, and in 
June, 1885, these people were distributed as follows: On 
Sac and Fox Reservation in Iowa (Tama county), about 
380 ; on Pottawattomie and Great Nemaha Agency Reserva- 
tion, near the northeast corner of Kansas, the Sacs and Foxes 
of Missouri about 187; on Sac and Fox Reservation in Indian 
Territory, 457, and Mohoko's band, wandering in the west, 
about 350 — a total of 1,374. Almost all but the last named 
band are farmers and herders. The agent at Sac and Fox 
Agency, Iowa, writing in 1884, said: "For honesty and 
truthfulness our Indians stand above the average white man 
with the merchants with whom they deal . ' ' Yet in spite of 

22 



all attempts to civilize them, the Sacs and Foxes still live in 
the rude huts of their ancestors, cookinj^ their food from a 
fire made oh the ground, the smoke escaping from an open 
roof ; sleeping on bunks of boards arranged on the sides of 
their huts, wearing blankets, painting their faces, shaving 
and decorating their heads, as did their ancestors who lived 
at the old Rock River village. They lack thrift, industry 
and a spirit of progress. They still offer prayers and hold 
feasts before planting their crops, and another series of 
prayers and thanksgiving when their crops are gathered. 
Notwithstanding the efforts of Christian missionaries, holy 
or consecrated tobacco is still burned on certain occasions as 
incense, and as of yore they still have " Me-sham," a some- 
thing that profane eyes have never been allowed to see. The 
modern Sacs and Foxes, while quiet and peaceful, are averse 
to work and seem at their best visiting the neighboring 
towns, lounging about smoking, chatting and playing the 
white man's game — cards. 



FIRST WHITE EXPLORERS. 

Undoubtedly the first white men to cast their ej^es upon 
Rock Island soil were lyouis Joliet and Father Jacques Mar- 
quette, when they and their five French canoemen, in June 
1673, floated from the mouth of the Wisconsin River down 
the broad Mississippi. We do not know that they landed at 
any spot in the boundary of what is now Rock Island County, 
but as they came over the Rock Island rapids, gliding down 
the swift flowing water, they could not fail to notice the 
island of Rock Island with its rocky shores and beautiful 
groves, for their canoes must needs take the channel on the 
north shore of the island. All early voyagers remarked upon 
this locality, and it was generally considered "the hand- 
somest and most delightful spot of the same size on the 
whole globe." 

We have no record of the first white man who stepped on 
Rock Island soil. We know that as early as 1690 Nicholas 
Perrot, French commandant of the west, built a post opposite 
to where Dubuque, Iowa, now is and that in 1695 Pierre Le 

23 



Sueur built a fort on a large island in the Mississippi River 
between Lake Pepin and the mouth of the St. Croix, which 
Charlevoix says became ' ' the centre of commerce for the 
western parts." Le Sueur discovered lead mines on both 
sides of the Mississippi River (at Dubuque and Galena), and 
Penicault, his reporter and companion, speaks of the rapids 
at Rock Island. We know that agents of Anthony Crozat at 
some time between the years 1712 and 1717 worked the lead 
mines around Dubuque and Galena ; that as early as 1792 
printed maps of this country show the Rock Island rapids, 
naming them "Nine-mile Rapids," and we further know that 
from 1788 to 1810 Julien Du Buque with a force of Spanish, 
French and Indian miners operated the lead mines near 
where Dubuque, Iowa, now is, and floated his lead down the 
Mississippi to St. lyOuis and New Orleans, and it is not 
impossible that some of these people may have explored this 
county and even lived here ; but the first record we have of 
a white man stopping at this locality is when lyieutenant Pike 
in 1805 made his trip up the Mississippi. Afterwards he 
recommended to the United States Government the establish- 
ment of three forts on the Mississippi above St. Louis, one 
of which was at the mouth of the Wisconsin. 

At the beginning of the War of 1812 the Indians were very 
hostile to the Americans and the English openly incited them 
against us. The French traders at this time had established 
a post at the mouth of the Wisconsin, which was the only 
settlement at this time north of St. Louis. Our government 
was now urged to establish a fort on the upper Mississippi to 
protect the American traders. In 1812 Congress called for 
the organization of ten companies of territorial rangers, three 
of which were raised in Illinois. They were assigned to 
guard our frontiers. General Howard who was in command 
of the American forces on the Mississippi concluded it best 
to establish a fort at the mouth of the Wisconsin, and to this 
end sent a body of regulars and rangers who proceeded up 
the river in keel boats and erected Fort Shelby. This was 
in the beginning of the year 1814. 



24 



CAMPBElvIv'S BATTI.E. 

Ill order to strengthen this garrison, Howard in the first 
part of July sent a second expedition consisting of 133 per- 
sons up the Mississippi in three fortified barges or keel 
boats. This expedition was commanded by L/ieutenant (act- 
ing Major) John Campbell. On the afternoon of July 18 the 
boats arrived at this locality and encamped for the night on 
the Illinois shore, opposite the lower end of Rock Island. 
During the evening Black Hawk and a large number of his 
people came to the American encampment and expressed 
great friendship for the Americans. During the night a run- 
ner came from Prairie du Chien to the Indian village on 
Rock River, bringing the news of the capture of the Amer- 
ican Fort Shelby by the British and asking Black Hawk to be 
on the lookout for a large boat which had escaped and which 
was headed down the river. Early in the morning Black 
Hawk and his band started for the American camp. 

During the night a strong wind came up and Major Camp- 
bell decided to take advantage of it and made an early start 
with his boats. When Black Hawk arrived at the Mississippi 
shore he found the Americans gone and he immediately 
started up the river in pursuit. Campbell's fleet had pro- 
ceeded about six miles up the river beyond the island of 
Rock Island, when they encountered a severe storm, which 
drove the boat commanded by Campbell upon the shore of 
the island, since known as Campbell's Island. While waiting 
for the storm to subside the troops landed and began prepar- 
ing their breakfast. Black Hawk, who had followed on the 
Illinois shore, saw the stranded boat and with his warriors he 
forded the Mississippi from the main shore to the island and 
commenced an attack upon Campbell's soldiers. The two 
other boats which had preceded the ill-fated vessel, and which 
were commanded by Lieutenants Stephen Rector and Jona- 
than Riggs, hearing the report of fire arms, quickly returned 
to the rescue. The engagement lasted all day. The rangers 
effected a retreat after a heroic rescue of Campbell's crew, 
but left Campbell's ill-fated boat in the hands of the Indians, 
who, after plundering it, set it on fire. The total casualties 



25 



were sixteen killed, of whom one was a woman and one a 
child. The Legislature at its session of 1904-5 appropriated 
$5,000 for a monument to mark this spot. 



FIRST WHITE SETTLERS. 

The first white settler in this county was George Daven- 
port, who came to the island of Rock Island in the spring of 
1816 with Colonel William Lawrence and the Eighth Regi- 
ment of United States regulars at the time Fort Armstrong 
was built. In 1817 Davenport built a double, log cabin on the 
island of Rock Island at the place where the ' ' Old Davenport 
House " now stands, one part of which he used as a store in 
which he carried on the business of an Indian trader. The 
old ruin now standing on the north shore of the island was 
built in 1833 and was for many years the most pretentious 
residence above St. Louis. In 1824 Russell Farnham came 
from Warsaw and entered into partnership with Davenport 
under the firm name of Davenport & Farnham. In 1826 
Davenport & Farnham built the house on the main land 
afterwards occupied by John Barrel. This was used for 
many years as the seat of justice for this county and in 
our county records is referred to as the " House of John 
Barrel." 

In 1828 the country along Rock River had not been sur- 
veyed and consequently was not open to entry. Yet the fame 
of the fertility of the soil and the beauty of the country had 
attracted the pioneer who is always in advance of the settler, 
and who often is termed the squatter, and these people rely- 
ing upon the protection of Fort Armstrong began to select 
homes in this valley. During the year 1828 there were eight 
settlers to arrive — Captain B. W. Clark, an old soldier named 
Haney, Judge Pence, who settled on Rock River; and John 
Kinney, Thomas Kinney, George Harlan, Conrad Leek and 
Archibald Allen, the last five settling where Rapids City 
now is. 

The year 1829 brought a number of new-comers — Judge 
John W. Spencer who had been here the year before ; Louden 
Case Sr., and his three sons, Jonah, Louden Jr. and Charles, 

26 



who settled on what is now known as the Case place on Rock 
River; Rinah Wells and his four sons, Rinah Jr., Lucius, 
John and Samuel, who also settled on Rock River; Joel Wells 
Jr., who settled near Hampton; Joel Wells Sr., Levi and 
Huntington Wells, who settled at Moline ; Joseph Danforth a 
mile above Moline, Michael Bartlett where Deere & Man- 
sur's factory now is, George Goble and his son Benjamin, 
about two miles above Moline, William Brashar who settled 
south of the present city of Rock Island, Joshua Vandruff 
and his sons, who settled on Vandruff's Island, Charles H. 
Case and Benjamin F. Pike. 



FIRST AND ONLY SLAVES. 

At this time in the southern part of the state negroes were 
held in bondage, under what was known and recognized as 
the indentured or registered servants act. This was contrary 
to the ordinance of 1787 which governed the admission of 
Illinois into the union as a state, but our Legislature enacted 
laws which our courts upheld, by which slavery existed in 

Illinois. In May, , a man named Stephens from St. Louis 

settled on the Mississippi where Walker Station now is, 
two miles east of Moline, bringing with him twenty black 
slaves, and built two cabins. There were but few settlers in 
this locality, but this new departure was not in accord with 
their ideas, and in October Joseph Danforth traveled to the 
nearest justice of the peace, who resided at Galena, and 
secured from him a warrant for Stephens' arrest for holding 
slaves. George Goble, the father of Benjamin Goble, know- 
ing Danforth 's intention, warned Stephens, who immediately 
started south with his slaves. Stephens' two cabins were 
afterwards taken by two brothers named Smith, who floored 
the cabins with planks taken from the hull of Major Camp- 
bell's keel boat, which had not burned and which had lain 
embedded in the sand on Campbell's Island where it stranded 
on that ill fated July 19, 1814. No one after this ever tried 
to own slaves in this county, although some of the officers 
at Fort Armstrong had negro servants who were held as 
indentured blacks. 

27 



SETTLEMENT OF LANDS. 

In 1828 and the early part of 1829 George Davenport and 
Russell Farnham entered the lands upon which the old fair 
grounds were located, and which extended from there about 
one mile east. William T. Brashar entered the lands upon a 
portion of which is now located Chippianock cemetery. 
These and other pre-emptions were upon lands that had for 
nearly a century been the village and the cornfields of the 
Sacs. These entries were within the letter, but contrary to 
the spirit, of the treaty of 1804. These lands were not open 
to settlers, nor brought into the market until the latter part 
of 1829, and one authority says : "Consequently all who had 
settled on them previous to this were trespassers, having 
violated the laws of congress and the pre-existing treaties. 
The most advanced settlements at that time did not approach 
nearer than fifty or sixty miles of Rock Island, and the lands 
for even a greater distance had not been offered for sale, yet 
the government disposed of a few quarter sections at the 
mouth of this stream, embracing the site of the village and 
fields cultivated by the inhabitants. The manifest object of 
this advanced movement upon the Indian settlements was to 
evade the provisions of the treaty, by having the governmental 
title to the lands pass into the hands of the individuals, and 
thus obtain a pretext for removing its owners west of the 
Mississippi . ' ' 

ESTABLISHMENT OF ROCK ISLAND COUNTY. 

By an act of the Illinois Legislature entitled ' ' An act to 
establish Rock Island County," approved and in force Febru- 
ary 9, 1831, it was provided by Section 1 thereof what the 
boundaries of this county shall be. Section 2 provided that 
whenever it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the 
presiding judge of the Circuit Court of Jo Daviess county, to 
which this county was then attached, that the said county of 
Rock Island contains three hundred and fifty inhabitants, 
it shall be his duty to grant an order for the election of three 
commissioners, one sheriff and one coroner to serve in and for 
said count\^ until they be superseded by the persons elected 

28 



at the next general election, which shall take place after teh 
special election herein provided for. The act then states that 
after such election the said county of Rock Island shall be 
considered as organized and entitled to the same rights and 
privileges as the other counties in this state. Owing however 
to the Black Hawk war no effort was made to organize the 
county until 1833, when on Monday, July 5, in pursuance of 
due notice, the legal voters of this county to the number 
of sixty-five met at the " House of John Barrel," and elected 
county officers. 



29 



mm 



1 ' " w 


■ '1 


'iHI 


1 ^ ' "^ 


1 ' - 


ph 


- 


1 ''I 


„ 


1 


M 



Part II 

The Beginning of Trouble, The Settlers' Appeal, 
Reports of the Indian Agent, Correspondence 
Between the Governor and Generals Gaines and 
Clark, The First Campaign, Whisky a Main 
Factor, The Rock River Rangers, Burning of the 
Indian Village, The Treaty. 



Part II 



THE BEGINNING OF TROUBI^E. 

In the spring of 1831, when Black Hawk and his people 
returned from their winter hunt, he found the few white 
settlers whom they had left the fall before increased by many 
new comers. He found the Indian homes occupied by pale 
faces, and among his corn hills he found the white man's 
wagon. But more aggravating yet, he found the bones of 
his ancestors disturbed and laid bare upon the ground by 
the white man's plow. He and his people had borne much 
the past few years but this seemed too much. He protested, 
and was told the white m,an had bought the land from his 
white father in Washington. He could not understand this. 
Judge John W. Spencer in his "Reminiscences" says: 

Black Hawk gave the settlers to understand that after this 
season they must go south of Rock River, or above Pleasant 
Valley. * * * This move on the part of the Indians made it 
necessary for the settlers to look about and see what they 
could do for their protection," and, he adds, "We had peti- 
tioned the Governor of the state in the summer of 1829 
without his taking any notice, but now we concluded to try 
it again. We made a statement of our grievance, and of the 
order of Black Hawk for our removal, and forwarded it with 
all possible haste to the governor. This had the desired 
effect . ' ' 




33 



THE ROCK IvSLAND PETITION. 

The following is the petition sent to the Governor by citi- 
zens of Rock Island : 

"April 30, 1831. 

" His Excellency, the Governor of the State of Illinois : 

"We, the undersigned, being citizens of Rock River and 
its vicinity, beg leave to state to your honor the grievances 
which we labor under and pray your protection against the 
Sac and Fox tribe of Indians who have again taken posses- 
sion of our lands near the mouth of Rock River and its 
vicinity. They have, and now are, burning our fences, 
destroying our crops of wheat now growing, by turning in all 
their horses. They also threaten our lives if we attempt to 
plant corn, and say they will cut it up ; that we have stolen 
their lands from them, and they are determined to extermi- 
nate us, provided we don't leave the country. Your honor, 
no doubt, is aware of the outrages that were committed by 
said Indians heretofore. Particularly last fall, they almost 
destroyed all our crops, and made several attempts on the 
owners' lives when they attempted to prevent their depreda- 
tions, and actually wounded one man by stabbing him in 
several places. This spring they act in a much more out- 
rageous and menacing manner, so that we consider ourselves 
compelled to beg protection of you, which the agent and 
garrison on Rock Island refuse to give, inasmuch as they say 
they have no orders from government ; therefore, should we 
not receive adequate aid from your honor, we shall be com- 
pelled to abandon our settlement and the lands which we 
have purchased of government. Therefore, we have no doubt 
but your honor will better anticipate our condition than it is 
represented, and grant us immediate relief in the manner that 
to you may seem most likely to produce the desired effect. 
The number of Indians now among us is about six or seven 
hundred. They say there are more coming, and that the 
Pottawattomies and some of the Winnebagoes will help them, 
in case of an irruption with the whites. 



34 



" The warriors now here are the Black Hawk's party, with 

other chiefs, the names of whom we are not acquainted 
with. Therefore, looking up to you for protection, we beg 

leave to remain, yours, etc." 

( Signed ) John Wells Thomas Lovitt 

B. F. Pike William Heans 

H. McNiel Charles French 

Albert Wells M. S. Hulls 

Griffith Ausbury Eli Wells 

Thomas Gardiner Asaph Wells 

J. Vandruff G. V. Miller 

S. Vandruff Edward Burner 

John L. Bain Joel Thompson 

Horace Cook Joel Wells, Jr. 

David B. Hail J. W. Spencer 

John Barrel Joseph Dan forth 

William Henry William Brazher 

Erastus Kent Jonah H. Case 

Levi Wells Samuel Wells 

Joel Wells Charles French 

Michael Bartlet Benjamin Goble 

Huntington Wells Gentry McCall 
Thomas Davis 



THE INDIAN AGENT REPORTS. 

The settlers not hearing from the governor and receiving 
no aid from the officials at Fort Armstrong, applied to the 
Indian agent, and he wrote the following letter : 

"Rock Island, May 15, 1831. 
' ' Respected Sir : I have again to mention to you that the 
Black Hawk (a Sac chief) and his party are now at their old 
village on Rock River. They have commenced planting corn 
and say they will keep possession. I have been informed 
that they have pulled down a house and some fences which 
they have burned. They have also turned their horses in 
wheat fields and say they will destroy the wheat so that the 
white people shall not remain among them. 

This is what I expected from their manner of acting last 
fall, and which I mentioned to you in my letter of the 8th 
October last. I would not be at a loss were it not for the 
seventh article of the treat}^ with the Sacs and Foxes of 3d 
November, 1804. 

35 



" I respectfully ask, would it not be better to hold a treaty 

with those Indians and get them to remove peaceably, than 

to call on the military to force them off ? None of this band 

has as yet called on me for information. A few have been at 

my agency to have work done at the smith's shops. I have 

the honor to be, 

"Your obedient servant, 

" Felix St. Vrain, Indian Agent. 

"Gen. William Clark, Supt. Ind. of vSt. Louis." 



WHISKY THE CAUSE. 

One of the settlers living on what is now Vandruff's Island 
kept a sort of tavern where whisky was sold, and here the 
Indians came to barter for fire water. Black Hawk saw his 
young men and old bartering off their peltries and game for 
whisky and he saw the ruin the white man's fire water 
was creating among his people. He protested and begged 
the white man to stop selling the Indian whisky, but the 
sale went on. One day he, with some five or six of his 
braves, paddled in canoes from the village to Vandruff's 
Island where was the cabin occupied by the white man who 
was selling whisky to the Sacs. Silently the old chief 
marched up to the cabin followed by his braves. They did 
not stop to knock but entered the door and silently rolled the 
several barrels and kegs of whisky outside the cabin, knocked 
in the heads with their tomahawks, and allowed the pale 
face's fire water to run on the ground. Then the}' rowed 
back to their village. 

This last act of the Indians greatly excited the whites and 
Benjamin F. Pike, a settler, was sent to Belleville in St. Clair 
County to personally ask the governor for assistance. He 
took with him the following petition from the settlers : 



36 



THE SECOND PETITION. 

" Farnhambiirg, May 19, 1831. 
" To his Excellency, the Governor of the State of Illinois : 

"We, the undersigned, citizens of Rock River and its 
vicinity, having previously sent a petition to 3'our honor, 
praying your protection against these Sac Indians who were 
at that time doing every kind of mischief as was set forth and 
represented to your honor ; but feeling ourselves more 
aggrieved and our situation more precarious, we have been 
compelled to make our distress known to you by sending one 
of our neighbors who is well acquainted with our situation. 
If we do not get relief speedily we must leave our habitations 
to these savages and seek safety for our families by taking 
them down into the lower counties and suffer our houses and 
fences to be destroyed, as one of the principal war chiefs has 
threatened if we do not abandon our settlement his warriors 
should burn our houses over our heads. They were, at the 
time we sent our other petition, destroying our crops of 
wheat, and are still pasturing their horses in our fields, burn- 
ing our fences, and have thrown the roof off one house. 
They shot arrows at our cattle, killed our hogs, and every 
mischief. 

" We have tried every argument to the agent for relief, but 
he tells us they are a lawless band, and he has nothing to do 
with them until further orders, leaving us still in suspense, 
as the Indians say if we plant we shall not reap, a proof of 
which we had last fall; they almost entirely destroyed all our 
crops of corn, potatoes, etc. Believing we shall receive pro- 
tection from your excellency, we shall go on with our farms 
until the return of the bearer ; and ever remain your humble 
supplicants, etc." 

This petition was signed by almost all the persons who 
signed the first petition. On his way to Belleville in St. Clair 
County, where Governor Reynolds lived, Mr. Pike stopped 
over in Fulton County where he secured the following 
affidavit : 
" State of Illinois, Fulton County. 

"Personally appeared before me, Stephen Dewey, an acting 
Justice of the Peace in and for said County of Fulton, and 

37 



State of Illinois, Hiram Sanders and Ammyson Chapman, of 
the aforesaid county and state, and made oath that some time 
in the month of April last they went to the old Indian Sac 
town, about thirty miles up Rock River, for the purpose of 
farming and establishing a ferry across said river, and the 
Indians ordered us to move away and not to come there 
again, and we remained there a few hours. 

"They then sent for their chief and he informed us that 
we might depart peaceably and if we did not that he would 
make us go. 

" He therefore ordered the Indians to throw our furniture 
out of the house ; they accordingly did so and threatened to 
kill us if we did not depart. We therefore discovered that 
our lives were in danger, and consequently moved back again 
to the above county. 

" We then supposed them to be principally Winnebagoes. 

" H. Sanders, 
"A. Chapman. 

" Sworn and subscribed this 11th day of May, 1831. 

"Stephen Dewey, J. P." 



BENJAMIN F. PIKE'S AFFIDAVIT. 

Upon his arrival at Belleville Pike had prepared the follow- 
ing statement : 
"State of Illinois, St. Clair County. 

"Present, Benjamin F. Pike, before me, a Justice of the 
Peace in and for the said county, and made oath and deposed, 
that he has resided in the vicinity of Rock River, in the State 
of Illinois, for almost three years last past ; that he is well 
acquainted with the band of the Sac Indians whose chief is 
the Black Hawk, and who have resided and do now reside 
near the mouth of Rock River in this state ; that he under- 
stands so much of the said Indian language as to converse 
with the said Indians intelligibly ; that he is well satisfied 
that said Indians, to the amount of about three hundred war- 
lyors, are extremely unfriendly to the white people ; that said 
Indians are determined, if not prevented by force, to drive off 
the white people, who have some of them purchased land 

38 



of the United vStates near said Indians, and said Indians to 
remain sole occupiers of the said country. 

" That said Indians do not only make threats to this effect, 
but have, in various instances, done much damage to said 
white inhabitants, b\' throwing- down their fences, destroying 
the fall grain, pulling off the roofs of houses, and positively 
asserting that if the whites do not go away they would kill 
them ; that there are about forty inhabitants and heads of 
families in the vicinity of said Indians, who are immediately 
aflfected by said band of Indians ; that said Pike is certain 
that said forty heads of families, if not protected, will be com- 
pelled to leave their habitations and homes from the actual 
injury that said Indians will commit on said inhabitants ; 
that said band of Indians consists, as above stated, of about 
three hundred warriors, and that the whole band is actuated 
b}' the same hostile feelings towards the white inhabitants ; 
and that, if not prevented by an armed force of men, will 
commit on said white inhabitants. That said Indians have 
said that they would fight for their country where they 
reside, and would not permit the white people to occupy it at 
all. That said white inhabitants are desirous to be protected, 
and that immediately, so that they may raise crops this 
spring and summer. 

"Benjamin F. Pike. 

" Sworn and subscribed before me, this 26th May, 1831. 

"John H. Dennis, J. P." 

Pike presented his petition from the Rock River settlers 
and these affidavits personally to Governor Reynolds, who 
on the same day issued a call for seven hundred mounted 
militia, to move the Indians west of the Mississippi River. 
He also wrote the following letter to General Clark, Super- 
intendent of Indian Affairs : 

"Belleville, 26th May, 1831. 
"Sir: In order to protect the citizens of this state, who 
reside near Rock River, from Indian invasion and depreda- 
tions, I have considered it necessary to call out a force of 
militia of this state of about seven hundred strong, to remove 
a band of the Sac Indians who are now about Rock Island. 
The object of the government of the state is to protect tho.se 

39 



citizens by removing said Indians, peaceably if they can, but 
forcibly if they must. Those Indians are now, and so I have 
considered them, in a state of actual invasion of the state. 

As you act as the public agent of the United States in 
relation to those Indians, I considered it my duty to inform 
you of the above call on the militia and that in or about 
fifteen days a sufficient force will appear before said Indians 
to remove them, dead or alive, over to the west side of the 
Mississippi ; but to save all this disagreeable business, per- 
haps a request from you to them for them to remove to the 
west side of the river would effect the object of procuring 
peace to the citizens of the state. There is no disposition on 
the part of the people of this state to injure those unfortunate 
and deluded savages if they will let us alone ; but a govern- 
ment that does not protect its citizens deserves not the name 
of a government. Please correspond with me at this place on 

this subject. 

Your obedient servant, 

"John Reynolds. 
" Gen. Clark, Supt., etc." 

Felix St. Vrain, the then agent for the Sacs and Foxes, had 
in the meantime gone to St. I^ouis and in the following letter 
sets out the situation at Rock River : 

"St. I^ouis, May 28, 1831. 
"Respected Sir: Since my last of the 15th inst. on the 
subject of the band of Sac Indians, etc., the Indian village on 
Rock River near Rock Island, I have heard from the Indians 
and some of the whites that a house had been unroofed 
instead of pulled down and burned, and that the fence had 
caught fire by accident. As regards the destroying of the 
wheat, etc., the Indians say that a white man hauled some 
timber through a field and left the fence down by which 
means their horses got into the field. This, however, has 
been contradicted by the white inhabitants of that place. 
They say that the Indians are constantly troubling them by 
letting their horses into their fields and killing their hogs, 
etc. This, however, I am confident is occa.sioned in a great 
measure by whisky being given to the Indians in exchange 
for their guns, traps, etc. 

40 



' ' I had a talk with the principal chief and braves of that 
band of Indians. I spoke to the Black Thunder, who is the 
principal of that band. I told them that they had sold those 
lands to the government of the United States and that they 
ought to remove to their own lands. They then .said that 
they had only sold the lands .south of the river. I then 
produced the treaties and explained to them that they had 
relinquished their rights as far as the Ouisconsin. Quash- 
quam-me (the Jumping Fish) then said that he had only 
consented to the limits being Rock River, but that a Fox 
chief agreed (as he understands, afterwards) for the Ouiscon- 
sin ; that he (Quash-quam-me) had been deceived and that 
he did not intend it to be so. I had considerable talk with 
them on this subject, and could discover nothing hostile in 
their di.sposition unless their decided conviction of their right 
to the place could be construed as such. I have been 
informed that a white man and his family had gone to 
an Indian village on the borders of Rock River about forty 
miles from Rock Island, for the purpose of establishing a 
ferry, and that the Indians at that place had driven them 
away, at the same time saying to them that they would not 
hurt them, but they should not live there. This village is 
occupied by a mixture of Winnebago, Sac and Fox bands 
and headed by the Prophet, a chief. I have the honor to be 
" Your obedient servant, 

"Felix St. Vrain, Indian Agent. 

"Gen. William Clark, Supt. Indian Affairs, St. Louis." 

Upon receipt of Governor Reynold's letter, General William 
Clark sent to General Edward P. Gaines the following letter: 

" Superintendency of Indian Affairs. 
"St. Louis, May 28, 1831. 
' 'Sir : I have the honor to inclose you a copy of a letter of 
26th inst., just received from the Governor of Illinois, by 
which you will perceive he has thought it necessary to call 
out a force of about 700 militia for the protection of the citi- 
zens of that state, who reside near Rock River, and for the 
purpose of removing a band of Sacs which he states are now 
about Rock Island. 

41 



" As the commanding general of this division of the army, 
I have thought it my duty to communicate to you the above 
information ; and for the purpose of putting you in possession 
of the views of the government in relation to this subject, as 
well as to inform you of the means which have been hereto- 
fore employed for the removal of the Sacs now complained of, 
I enclose to you herewith copies of my correspondence with 
the War Department and with the agent for those tribes, also 
extracts from such of their reports as had immediate relation 
to the subject. 

The vSacs and Foxes have been counseled with on the 
subject of their removal from the lands which they had ceded 
to the United States. The prospect of collisions with the 
white settlers who were then purchasing those lands, and 
the interminable difficulties in which they would be involved 
thereby were pointed out, and had the effect of convincing a 
large majority of both tribes of the impropriety of remaining 
at their old village. They, therefore, acquiesced in the 
justice of the claim of the United States and expressed their 
willingness to comply with my request to remove to their 
new village on loway River, west of the Mississippi, all but 
parts of two bands headed by two inconsiderable chiefs, who, 
after abandoning their old village, have, it appears, returned 
again, in defiance of all consequences. 

Those bands are distinguished and known by the name 
of 'The British Party,' having been for many years in the 
habit of making annual visits at Maiden in Upper Canada 
for the purpose of receiving their presents, and it is believed 
to be owing in a great measure to the counsels they have 
there received, that so little influence has been acquired over 
them by the United States agents. 

" In justice to Keokuk, Wapello, the Stabbing Chief, and, 
indeed, all the other real chiefs and principal men of both 
tribes, it should be observed that they have constantly and 
zealously co-operated with the government agents in further- 
ance of its views, and in their endeavors to effect the removal 
of all their property from the ceded lands. 



42 



Anj' information in my possession which you may deem 
necessary in relation to this subject will be promptly afforded. 
With high respect, I have the honor to be 

Your most obedient servant , 

" William Clark. 
"Major-General Edmund P. Gaines, Commanding Western 
Department, U. S. A. 

"P. S. The agent for the Sacs and Foxes (Mr. St. Vrain) 
has received his instructions and will perform any service 
you may require of him with the Sacs and Foxes." 

General Clark the same day sent to Governor Reynolds 
the following communication in reply to his letter : 

" Superintendency of Indian Affairs, 
"St. Louis, May 28, 1831. 
Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of 
your letter of the 26th inst., informing me of your having 
considered it necessarj^ to call out a force of militia of about 
seven hundred for the protection of the citizens of Illinois 
who reside near Rock Island invasion and for the purpose of 
removing a band of Sac Indians who are now about Rock 
Island, etc. 

' ' You intimate that to prevent the necessity of employing 
this force, perhaps a request from me to those Indians to 
remove to the west side of the Mississippi would effect the 
object of procuring peace to the citizens of your state. In 
answer to which I would beg leave to observe, that every 
effort on my part has been made to effect the removal of all 
those tribes who had ceded their lands. For the purpose of 
affording you a view (in part) of what has been done in this 
matter, I enclose you herewith extracts from the reports of 
the agents for the Sacs and Foxes by which it will be seen 
that every means, short of actual force, has been employed to 
effect their removal. 

' ' I have communicated the contents of your letter to 
General Gaines, who commands the western division of the 
army, and who has full power to act and execute any military 
movement deemed necessary for the protection of the frontier. 
I shall also furnish him with such information regarding the 
Sacs and Foxes as I am possessed of, and would beg leave to 

43 



refer you to him for any further proceedings in relation 

to this subject. I have the honor to be, with great respect, 

" Your obedient servant, 

"Wm. Clark. 
"His Excellency, John Reynolds, Governor of Illinois." 

Governor Reynolds certainly meant business, for on the 
same day he sent the following letter : 

" Belleville, May 28, 1831. 
" General Gaines. 

Sir : I have received undoubted information that the 
section of this state near Rock Island is actually invaded by 
a hostile band of the Sac Indians headed by Black Hawk ; 
and in order to repel said invasion, and to protect the citizens 
of the state, I have, under the provisions of the constitu- 
tion of the United States and the laws of this state, called 
on the militia, to the number of 700 men, who will be 
mounted and ready for service in a very short time. I con- 
sider it my duty to lay before you the above information, so 
as you, commanding the military forces of the United States 
in this part of the Union, may adopt such measures in regard 
to said Indians as you deem right. 

The above mentioned mounted volunteers (because such 
they will be) will be in readiness immediately to move 
against said Indians, and, as Executive of the State of 
Illinois, I respectfully solicit your co-operation in this busi- 
ness. Please honor me with an answer to this letter. 
" With sincere respect to your character, 

" I am, your obedient servant, 

John REYNOLn.s. ' ' 

To which letter General Gaines replied as follows : 

"H. Q. Western Department, May 29, 1831. 
"His Excellency, Governor Reynolds. 

"Sir: I do myself the honor to acknowledge the receipt of 
your letter of yesterday's date, advising me of your having 
received undoubted information that the section of the 
frontier of your state near Rock Island is invaded by a 
hostile band of Sac Indians headed by a chief called Black 
Hawk. That in order to repel said invasion, and to protect 

44 



the citizens of the state, you have called on the militia to the 
number of 700 militiamen to be in readiness immediately to 
move against the Indians and you solicit my co-operation. 

"in reply, it is my duty to state to you that I have 
ordered six companies of the regular troops stationed at 
Jefferson Barracks to embark to-morrow morning and repair 
forthwith to the spot occupied by the hostile Sacs. To this 
detachment I shall, if necessary, add four companies. With 
this force I am satisfied that I shall be able to repel the 
invasion and give security to the frontier inhabitants of the 
state. But should the hostile band be sustained by the resi- 
due of the Sac, Fox and other Indians to an extent requiring 
an augmentation of my force, I will, in that event, communi- 
cate with Your Excellency by express and avail myself of the 
co-operation which you propose. But, under existing cir- 
cumstances, and the present aspect of our Indian relations on 
the Rock Island section of the frontier, I do not deem it 
necessary or proper to require militia, or any other descrip- 
tion of force, other than that of the regular army at this place 
and Prairie du Chien. 

" I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 

" Your obedient servant, 

" Edmund P. Gaines, 
" Major-General by Brevet, Commanding." 

General Clark the following day forwarded to the War 
Department at Washington the following communication: 

" Superintendency of Indian Affairs, 
"St. Louis, May 30, 1831. 
Sir : On the 28th inst. I had the honor of receiving a 
letter from the Governor of Illinois dated the 26th, informing 
me of the measures which he had considered it necessary to 
pursue for the protection of the citizens of his state from 
Indian invasion and for the purpose of removing a band of 
Sacs then about Rock Island. A copy of his letter and my 
answer herewith enclosed. 

"Deeming the information received from the Governor of 
Illinois important, I immediately communicated it to General 
Gaines who happened to be in this place at the time, and 
shortly after was called upon by Governor Reynolds himself 

45 



to whom I gave such information respecting the Sacs com- 
plained of as had come to my knowledge, and also furnished 
him with such of the reports of the agent for those tribes as 
had relation to the subject. To the Commanding General 
I furnished similar information ; and also for the purpose of 
possessing him of the views of the government on that sub- 
ject, I gave him copies of such of my correspondence with 
the War Department as had any relation thereto. 

' ' I also enclose to you copies of two reports of the agent 
for the Sacs and Foxes of the 15th and 28th inst. By the 
first it will be seen that the band complained of is determined 
to keep possession of their old village ; and it is probable from 
a knowledge of the disposition evinced in the matter by the 
Sacs and for the purpose of dispos.sessing them, that the 
Commanding General has thought proper to make a display 
in that quarter of a part of the force under his command, six 
companies of which are now leaving this place for Rock 
River. The expedition (be the result what it may) cannot 
fail of producing good effects, even should the Indians be dis- 
posed to move peaceably to their own lands ; and if not, their 
opposition should, in my opinion, be put down at once. 

" I have the honor to be, with high respect, 

" Your most obedient servant, 

"William Clark. 

"The Hon. John H. Eaton, Secretary of War." 




46 



GAINES GOES TO FORT ARMSTRONG. 

General Gaines immediately proceeded to Fort Armstrong 
and upon his arrival with his troops commenced putting the 
fort in condition to withstand a siege if necessary'-. The six 
companies he brought with him from Jefferson Barracks were 
strengthened by four additional companies from Fort Craw- 
ford, at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. All the settlers in this 
vicinity were warned of impending danger and came to the 
fort with their families, bringing their horses, cattle and 
everything of value that could be carried. The soldiers 
began target practice, and morning and evening guns were 
fired, something not heretofore done. June 5 General Gaines 
sent for Black Hawk, Keokuk, Wapello and other chiefs for 
the purpose of holding a council. Black Hawk came to the 
council attended by all his chiefs and many warriors, all in 
war paint, carrying arms, and singing war songs. None but 
the chiefs were allowed to enter the fort, and here in the 
presence of Keokuk, Wapello and other head chiefs, General 
Gaines told Black Hawk that he and his band must move 
west of the Mississippi River, and that if they did not go, he, 
Gaines, would move them by force. Gaines gave the Indians 
until the twentieth in which to move. Previous to this Black 
Hawk had held two interviews with the Prophet, a Winne- 
bago living at his village where Prophetstown is now located. 
The Prophet claimed to have had visions or dreams, and said 
that the white soldiers would do no one any harm, that their 
object was merely to frighten the Indians, and it was upon 
this information that Black Hawk acted. 




47 



GAINES ASKS AID FROM THE GOVERNOR. 

After the council, General Gaines at once sent by special 
messenger the following letter to Governor Reynolds : 

"Headquarters,, Rock Island, June 5, 1831. 
" John Reynolds, Governor of Illinois. 

' ' Sir: I do myself the honor to report to Your Excellency 
the result of my conference with the chiefs and braves of the 
band of Sac Indians settled within the limits of your state 
near this place. 

' ' I called their attention to the facts reported to me of 
their disorderly conduct towards the white inhabitants near 
them. They disavow any intention of hostility but at the 
same time adhere with stubborn pertinacity to their purpose 
of remaining on the Rock River land in question. 

"l notified them of my determination to move them, 
peaceably if possible, but at all events to move them to their 
own side of the Mississippi River, pointing out to them the 
apparent impossibility of their living on lands purchased by 
the whites without constant disturbance. They contended 
that this part of their country had never been sold by them. 
I explained to them the different treaties of 1804, '16 and '25, 
and concluded with a positive assurance that they must move off, 
and that I must as soon as they are ready assist them with boats. 

' ' I have this morning learned that they have invited the 
Prophet's band of Winnebagoes on Rock River, with some 
Pottawattomies and Kickapoos, to join them. If I find this to 
be true, I shall gladly avail myself of my present visit to see 
them well punished ; and, therefore, I deem it to be the only 
safe measure now to be taken to request of Your Excellency 
the battalion of mounted men which you did me the honor to 
say would co-operate with me. They will find at this post a 
supply of rations for the men, with some corn for their 
horses, together with a supply of powder and lead. 

"I have deemed it expedient under all the circumstances of 
the case to invite the frontier inhabitants to bring their 
families to this post until the difference is over. 

" I have the honor to be, with great respect, 
"Your obedient servant, 

" Edward P. Gaines, 
" Major-General by Brevet, Commanding. 
4S 



"p. S. Since writing the foregoing remarks, I have learned 
that the Winnebagoes and Pottawattoniie Indians have actually 
been invited by the Sacs to join them. But the former evince 
no disposition to comply ; and it is supposed by Colonel 
Gratiot, the agent, that none will join the Sacs, except, per- 
haps, some few of the Kickapoos. E. P. G." 

This letter evidently pleased Governor Reynolds for he said: 
" I was very much rejoiced on receiving this letter, as it put 
my whole proceedings on a legal and constitutional footing, 
and the responsibility of the war was removed from me to the 
United States." 



THE SETTLERS' AFFIDAVITS. 

While at Fort Armstrong the settlers had prepared another 
petition, together with numerous affidavits, which they pre- 
sented to General Gaines. The following is the substance^ 
of the depositions of sundry citizens of the Rock River settle- 
ment, taken before William Brasher, J. P., and Joel Wells, J. 
P., on the 10th of June, 1831. 

" Fi?-st. John Wells, John W. Spencer, Jonah H. Case, 
Rennah Wells, Samuel Wells, Benjamin F. Pike, Joseph Dan- 
forth and Moses Johnson, before Wm. Brazer, J. P., swear 
that the Sac Indians did through the last year repeatedly 
threaten to kill them for being on their ground, and acted in 
the most outrageous manner; threw down their fences, burnt 
or destroyed their rails, turned horses into their cornfields and 
almost destroyed their crops, stole their potatoes, killed and 
ate their hogs, shot arrows into their cattle and put out their 
eyes, thereby rendering them useless to their owners, saying 
the land was theirs, and that they had not sold it. In April 
they ordered the deponents to leave their houses, and turned 
from fifty to one hundred horses into one man's wheat field, 
threatening that the fields should not be reaped, although said 
owners had purchased the land of the United States govern- 
ment. The Indians also leveled deadly weapons at the citi- 
zens, and on some occasions hurt some of the said citizens, 
for attempting to prevent the destruction of their property. 
Also that the Indians stole their horses, some of which were 

49 



returned by the agent six or eight months after, and in a 
miserable condition ; others were never heard of again . 
Nearly fifty Indians headed by their notorious war chief, all 
armed and equipped for war, came to the house of Rennah 
Wells, and ordered him to be off or they would kill him, 
which, for the safety of his family, he obeyed. They then 
went to another house, rolled out a barrel of whisky and 
destroyed it, as well as committing many other outrages to 
the knowledge of the deponents. 

" Second. John Wells, before Joel Wells, J. P., swore that 
on the 30th day of September, 1830, he saw two Sac Indians 
throwing down his fence, who said they were doing it for 
the purpose of going through, in which they persisted 
although forbidden by the owner, and when the owner at- 
tempted to prevent them, one of them made a pass at him 
with his fist, and drew his knife on him. 

Third. Rennah and Samuel Wells, before Joel Wells, J. 
P., swore that on the 29th of May a party of Sac Indians, 
calling themselves chiefs, with Black Hawk at their head, 
came to the house of Rennah Wells, near the mouth of Rock 
River, and said that he must let the squaws cultivate his 
field, which Wells refusing, they became much displeased, 
and told him to go off; upon Wells' refusal they went away. 
That on the next day the same chiefs, with about fifty war- 
riors, came, armed, and told Wells that he must move or they 
would cut the throats of himself and family, and making 
motions to that effect, upon which said Wells told them that 
he would take counsel and tell them at three o'clock the next 
day what would be his determination. They consented, and 
went away ; at the appointed time they returned and told 
Wells that he must go off, which he accordingly did, leaving 
all his possessions to the Indians. 

" Fourth. Nancy Thompson and Nancy Wells, before W. 
J. Brasher, swore that in October, 1830, two Indians resid- 
ing in the village forty or fifty miles above the mouth of Rock 
River, and called Sacs or Winnebagoes, came to the house of 
Rennah Wells and commenced chasing some sheep, as if they 
would kill them. Those Indians were ordered to desist, upon 
which they drew their knives and made at the woman, who 

50 



beinp: alarmed, called for assistance. Samuel Wells being sick 
in the house at the time, ran out with a pitchfork, and the 
Indians pursued no farther. London ly. Case heard the 
alarm given, and joined. The Indians then returned to the 
river bank eighty or one hundred yards distant ; when Case, 
thinking they were still in pursuit of the sheep, went to 
ascertain the truth, and coming near the Indians they wounded 
him severely in three places with a knife and tomahawk. 

''Fifth. Joseph Danforth, before Joel Wells, J. P., swore 
that he saw Sacs at a fence belonging to John Wells, who for- 
bid them going through, when they continued throwing down 
the fence. Wells attempted to prevent them, when one of 
the Indians struck him with his fist, and drew his knife. 
Danforth got a stick, and the Indians making several attempts 
toward Danforth, he (Danforth) knocked one of them down 
with his stick. The Indian rose several times and made at 
Danforth with his knife, and finally deserted the ground, 
leaving his knife." 

THE AGENT FEARS TROUBLE. 

June 4, General Gaines wrote to. Henry Gratiot, Sub- 
Indian agent, to investigate the situation at the Sac village 
at once ; and on the twelfth that gentleman sent the follow- 
ing reply : 

"Rock Island, June 12, 1831. 
Sir : I have the honor to report to you that, agreeably 
to my intimation to you, I visited the village of Sac Indians 
near this place yesterday for the purpose of persuading off 
the Winnebago Prophet and some young men of his band 
whom I knew had previously been there and, I believe, with 
an intention to support the Sac Indians. I found that the 
Prophet had just left there for his village, which is within my 
agency upon Rock River, and although he had previously 
promised that he would return home and remain there, I 
have reason to believe that his object is to get as many of his 
band and of the other bands of the Winnebagoes (who reside 
at Rock River, within my agency) as he can, for the purpose 
of joining the Sacs and of supporting them in their present 
pretensions. 

51 



" I have recently been at some of the principal villages of 
Winnebagoes within my agency, and have ascertained from 
unquestionable authority that, although they had been 
invited to join the Sacs, they had refused to do so. I think 
it will be prudent for me to follow the Prophet, to prevent 
him from influencing any of the Indians up the river to join 
him. Should I, however, find that any ot the warriors have 
left before my arrival amongst them, I will (if you think it 
best) return immediately to this place, bringing with me 
three or four influential chiefs who can be relied on and who 
will, with my assistance, I think, be able to control them. 

' ' In my opinion there are at least 400 warriors at the Sac 
village which I visited yesterday, apparently determined to 
defend themselves in their present position. On the receipt 
of your letter on the 4th inst., I immediately hastened to this 
place with a view to give you the most satisfactory informa- 
tion upon the subject of it and tender my services in any way 
you may think useful. 

"l am, respectfully yours, 

"Henry Gratiot, Sub-Agent, etc. 

" Major-General Gaines." 




52 



T?IE ROCK RIVER RANGERS. 



At the suggestion of Judge Spencer the men and larger 
boys of the settlement formed themselv^es into a company, 
elected officers, and named themselves "Rock River Rang- 
ers," and tendered their services to General Gaines, who 
accepted the company of fifty-eight men, and June 5, 1831, 
mustered them into the service. No record of this company's 
enrollment has been found, it probably never having been 
forwarded to Washington. The following is a roster of the 
company : 

Captain : Benjamin F. Pike. 
First Lieutenant: John W. Spencer. 
Second Lieutenant : Griffith Aubury. 

Sergeants : James Haskill, Leonard Bryant, Edward Corbin 
Corporals: Charles French, Benjamin Goble, Charles Case, Henry 
Benson. 



Allen, Archibald 
Brashar, William T. 
Bane, John 
Bartlett, Michael 
Been, Joseph 
Case, Jonah H. 
Danforth, Joseph 
Davis, Thomas 
Dance, Russell 
Frith, Isaiah 
Gardner, Thomas 
Harlan, George W. 
Hultz, Uriah S. 
Hubbard, Thomas 
Hubbard, Goodridge 
Henderson, Cyrus 



Johnson, Moses 
Kinney, John W. 
Kinney, Samuel 
Leek, Conrad 
Levitt, Thomas 
McNeil, Henry 
Miller, George 
McGee, Gentry 
Noble, Amos C. 
Syms, Thomas 
Syms, Robert 
Sams, William F. 
Smith, Martin W. 
Stringfield, Sevier 
Thompson, Joel 
Vandruff, Joshua 



Vandruff, Henry 
Vandruff, Samuel 
Vannetta, Benjamin 
Vannetta, Gorham 
Varner, Edward 
Wells, Levi 
Wells, George 
Wells, Joel, Sr. 
Wells, Joel, Jr. 
Wells, Huntington 
Wells, John 
Wells, Samuel 
Wells, Rinnah 
Wells, Asaph 
Wells, Eri 
Wells, Ira 




53 



GENERAL GAINES MAKES A 
DEMONSTRATION. 

On the 18th of June, General Gaines sent from Fort 
Armstrong the steamboat Enterprise, carrying one company 
of soldiers and one cannon. The boat steamed up Rock 
River, and passed the Indian village, the object being to over- 
awe and intimidate the Indians. Black Hawk said : ' ' The 
water being shallow, the boat got aground, which gave the 
whites some trouble. If they had asked for assistance, there 
was not a brave in my band who would not willingly have 
aided them." Judge John W. Spencer who was on the boat 
says: "Strange to say, although a steamboat was seldom 
seen in those days, the Indians seemed not to take the least 
notice of the boat, not even looking at it, and even the 
women and children showed no signs of wonder or fear." 



THE ILLINOIS MILITIA. 

Governor Reynolds in defending his position in calling 
out the militia said: "if I did not act, and the inhabitants 
were murdered, after being informed of their situation, I 
would be condemned from Dan to Beersheba ; and if I levied 
by raising troops, when there was no necessity for it, I would 
also be responsible." Governor Reynolds knew that the 
settlers had applied to the Indian agent and the military 
officers of the United States and had obtained no relief, and 
he says : "I considered it my duty to call on the volunteers 
to move the Indians to the west side of the Mississippi." It 
was but seventeen years after the close of the war of 1812 
and these same Sacs and Foxes had fought the Americans in 
that war. There were many of the old soldiers still young 
enough to enlist and they inflamed the young men to appear 
against their old foe. The Governor had extracts from the 
petitions sent him circulated throughout the counties from 
which he had asked for troops. Moreover, he made, as he 
says, " both private and public speeches to the masses," and 
urged the people and his friends to turn out for the defense 
of the frontier. He adds : ' ' The warm feelings of the late 

54 



election for governor had not yet died away, and my 
electioneering friends converted their electioneering fever 
into the military, which was a powerful lever in the crusade 
for Rock Island." 

Although it was the most busy time in the year with the 
farmers some 1,600 responded to the Governor's call and 
appeared at Beardstown on or about the 10th of June. Some 
were armed with muskets, some with shotguns and some with 
no firearms whatsoever, but all were mounted. The Gover- 
nor managed to purchase enough muskets from a Beardstown 
merchant for the remainder of the troops. These muskets 
were light pieces, made with brass barrels for the South 
American service, and answered the purpose. The Governor 
appointed Joseph Duncan, then a member of Congress and 
afterwards governor of this state, brigadier general to take 
immediate command of the brigade, and Samuel Whiteside a 
major, to take command of a spy battalion. 

This army left its encampment near Rushville for Rock 
Island June 15, the Governor marching with the brigade. 
On the nineteenth, at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, after a 
pleasant march the army encamped at Rockport, now Anda- 
lusia. Here there had been previously erected a small log 
cabin or stockade, which was used as headquarters. During 
the afternoon General Gaines arrived at the encampment, 
coming from Fort Armstrong on a steamboat loaded with 
provisions, and here the Illinois troops were received into the 
service of the United States by General Gaines. The camp at 
Rockport was laid out according to military practice, pickets 
were placed, as it was feared the Indians might make a night 
attack, and the utmost vigilance was observed. The night 
was a beautiful one and it passed off quietly without any 
disturbance. 




55 



ATTACK ON THE SAC VILLAGE. 

On the morning of June 20, bright and early, General Dun- 
can marched his army from Rockport to a position on Rock 
river opposite the Sac village. An attempt was made to ferry 
the troops across, but it proved too slow, and General Gaines 
being shown a ford by George S. Miller, the army marched 
across through the water to Vandruff's Island. General 
Gaines left Fort Armstrong on the steamboat Enterprise, 
which had been fortified, and which carried one company of 
regulars and several cannon. The Enterprise entered Rock 
River and steamed up stream until opposite the Sac village 
where it met General Duncan's army with which it was to 
co-operate. The other nine companies of regulars, together 
with the Rock River Rangers, under command of Captain 
John Bliss, the then commandant of Fort Armstrong, 
marched from the fort to the Indian town. 

Judge Spencer in his reminiscences says: "Major Bliss 
formed our company of Rock River Rangers in an extended 
line of a half mile in front of the regulars, with one cannon in 
the rear, for our march for Rock River. We marched near 
where the road is now traveled until we reached General 
Rodman's land, then turning to the left until reaching the 
top of the bluff, taking the direction of Black Hawk's Watch 
Tower. On arriving there, we planted the cannon on the 
brow of the bluff and then commenced throwing grape and 
cannister into the bushes on Vandruff's Island." Vandruff's 
Island at this time was covered with bushes and vines so as to 
be impenetrable to the sight at a distance of twenty feet. 
The Enterprise was run to the lower point of the island and 
several rounds of grape and cannister were shot into the 
bushes to see if any enemy was there. The spy battalion 
under Whiteside then formed a line of battle and swept the 
island, and it was then learned that the north bank of Rock 
River was so near and so high that the firing had no effect. 
General Duncan's army followed in the wake of Whiteside's 
spy battalion, and before they got to the north side of the 
island the army was so jammed up and mixed together that 
no one knew where his company or regiment was. In the 
meantime Captain Bliss with the regulars and the Rock River 

56 



Rangers had learned that it was impossible from that distance 
to distinguish Indians from regulars or volunteers, and that 
their shots were as likely to kill friend as foe. The Indian 
village now became exposed to view but no Indians were to 
be seen. The river, narrow but deep, lay between the army 
and the village, and the main part of Duncan's army remained 
on the island until scows were found in which they were 
ferried across." 

Black Hawk says : ' ' We crossed the river during the 
night and encamped some distance below Rock Island." He 
.said he would have remained and been taken prisoner by the 
regulars but that he " was afraid of the multitude of pale- 
faced militia, who were on horseback, as they were inider no 
restraint of their chiefs." 



THE SACKING OF THE TOWN. 

The Illinois militia had come to fight Indians and when 
they found the rednien gone became determined to be avenged 
upon something. Shortly after they reached the Indian vil- 
lage it began to rain and soon the rain descended in torrents, 
but instead of seeking the shelter of the Indian wigwams 
the troops commenced setting fire to the houses. Soon the 
frail dwellings were wrapped in flames and in less than one 
hour's time almost every wigwam in the village was in ashes. 
Governor Ford who was present said : ' ' And thus perished 
an ancient village which had once been the delightful home 
of six or seven thousand Indians ; where generation after 
generation had been born, had died and been buried ; where 
the old men had taught wisdom to the young ; whence the 
Indian youth had often gone out in parties to hunt or to war, 
and returned in triumph to dance around the spoils of the 
forest, or the scalps of their enemies ; and where the dark- 
eyed Indian maidens, by their presence and charms, had made 
it a scene of delightful enchantment to many an admiring 
warrior." 



57 



THE STAMPEDE. 

The army spent the night at the Indian town, the regulars, 
however, going back to the fort. On the morning of June 21 
General Duncan marched his army to the Mississippi River 
and encamped on the exact spot where the City of Rock 
Island is now located, the camp extending from where the 
Rock Island Railway Company's freight depot is now located 
down to where the present ferry dock stands. 

The horses, some sixteen hundred, were pastured in the 
bend of the river below and a strong guard placed around 
them. During the second night a steamboat came up the 
river and when opposite where the horses were kept com- 
menced blowing its whistle. This unnatural noise at night so 
frightened the animals that they broke loose and stampeded, 
and it was with difficulty that their guards escaped being 
trampled to death. The frightened animals ran out on the 
prairies, up and down both river banks, and it was several 
days before they could be recovered, some few however being 
lost. 

BLACK HAWK SIGNS THE TREATY. 

General Gaines on the 22d sent a notice to Black Hawk that 
if he did not come to Fort Armstrong he would come after 
him with his army. In a few days a few of the Indians 
appeared but not Black Hawk. Gaines then sent a peremptory 
order to the chief and in a few days Black Hawk and his 
chiefs and headmen to the number of twenty-eight appeared 
at Fort Armstrong, and on June 30th, 1831, a new treaty was 
signed by which the British band of Sacs again agreed to 
make their homes on the west side of the Mississippi and 
never to cross such river, except with the consent of the 
President of the United States or of the Governor of Illinois. 
Black Hawk signed this treaty and then for the first time 
ratified, against his will, the treaty of 1804. This treaty was 
signed by General Gaines and Governor Reynolds for the 
United States, and by Black Hawk and twenty-seven chiefs 
and warriors for the Sacs and Foxes. The volunteer army 
was not satisfied with the result of this campaign and called 

58 



the treaty a "Corn Treaty" because General Gaines had 
given to the destitute Indians corn to keep them from starv- 
ing. The army was disbanded on July 2d, and the men 
returned to their homes. Not a man was injured or killed, 
either by accident or by the Indians ; nor did any die of 
disease. This ended the first Black Hawk campaign. 

For a long time after the signing of this treaty there was 
considerable discu.ssion and much feeling over the question 
whether Generals Gaines and Duncan knew that Black Hawk 
and his Indians had deserted their village on the night of the 
19th of June. Thomas Ford, afterwards Governor of Illinois, 
who was a militia volunteer and marched ahead with the 
spies, said : 

Gaines and Duncan had reason to believ-e before the 
commencement of the march from the camp on the Missis- 
sippi, that the Indians had departed from their village ; that 
measures had been taken to ascertain the fact before the 
volunteers crossed to Vandruff's Island ; General Duncan, in 
company with the advanced guard, following the spies, pre- 
ceded the main army in crossing, and that this will account 
for the want of order and confusion in the march of the 
troops." When the militia arrived opposite the Sac village 
the greatest confusion reigned in their midst. George S. 
Miller, a resident of this county, acted as guide, and when it 
became known that the Indians were not in the village, 
General Duncan began to reprimand Miller for not letting 
him know that the main river was on the north side of Vand- 
ruff's Island. Miller cursed him to his face at the head of 
his troops for refusing his services as a guide when offered 
the night before, and also censured him for not giving infor- 
mation which he had refused to receive, which inclines me 
to the belief that both Generals Gaines and Duncan knew 
that the Indians had departed. 

As witnesses to this treaty we find the names of two Rock 
Island settlers, Joseph Danforth and Benjamin F. Pike. 



59 




COLONKL GKORGK UAVJvNPORT. 



Part III 

The Black Hawk War, The Turkey Scare, Black 
Hawk Again Invades the Rock River Country, 
The Governor's Proclamation, Rock Island Set- 
tlers who were Soldiers in the War, End of the 
War, List of Settlers. 



Part III 



THE SECOND CAMPAIGN. 

Black Hawk with his band now removed to Iowa near the 
mouth of the Des Moines River, at the site of the abandoned 
Fort Madison. Neapope, second in command, took a trip to 
Maiden, Canada, and upon his return in the fall of 1831 told 
Black Hawk that he would receive assistance from the Brit- 
ish. The Prophet, who had great influence over Black 
Hawk, also sent word that the Ottawas, Chippewas, Potta- 
watomies and Winnebagoes would be with him and would 
render aid. Black Hawk after receiving these messages said: 
"We are to be happy once more." Black Hawk now 
directed all his efforts to getting together his warriors in 
anticipation of his march to his old village and its occupation, 
and prepared for an attack by the Americans should they 
again undertake to drive him away. The army through spies 
was kept informed of Black Hawk's actions, and early in 
April Keokuk sent to Fort Armstrong a warning that Black 
Hawk was about to commence his march to retake his old 
village. 

Again messengers were sent out from Fort Armstrong to 
warn the settlers of their danger and advising them to seek 
shelter at once either at Fort Armstrong or in the stockade 
which had been erected around the trading store of Daven- 
port & Farnham. The most daring and persevering of these 
messengers was Judge John W. Spencer. On foot he traveled 
as far as Dixon, going from cabin to cabin sounding the 
alarm and advising the settlers to seek protection. We can- 
not realize today the wild excitement and dread despair the 
news of an Indian uprising caused among our pioneer set- 
tlers. Few if any had horses to use in carrying their families 
and goods. Oxen were the beasts of burden and the settlers 

63 



were obliged to take what little they could and carry it on 
their persons. John Wakefield, in his history of the Black 
Hawk War written in 1834, gives an amusing sketch of the 
excitement attendant upon the news of an expected Indian 
attack. He .says: "In the eastern part of the state the 
people were as much alarmed as in the northwest. During 
one of the many false alarms that ' The Indians are coming' 
a family was living near the Iroquois River that had no 
horses but a large family of small children. The father and 
mother each took a child and the rest were directed to follow 
on foot as fast as po.ssible. The eldest daughter also carried 
one of the children that was not able to keep up. They fled 
to the river where they had to cross. The father had to 
carry over all the children at different times as the stream 
was high and so rapid the mother and daughter could not 
stem the current with such a- burden. When they all, as they 
thought, had got over they started when the cry of poor little 
Susan was heard on the oppo.site bank a.sking if they were 
not going to take her with them. The frightened father 
again prepared to plunge into the strong current for his child 
when the mother, seeing it, cried out : ' Never mind Susan ! 
We have succeeded in getting ten over which is more than 
we expected at first and we can better spare Susan than you, 
my dear.' So poor Susan, who was only about four years old, 
was left to the mercy of the frightful savages." But poor 
little Susan came off unhurt, as one of the neighbors who was 
out hunting came along and took charge of her. 




64 



THE TURKEY SCARE. 

All the settlers in this vicinity had come to Fort Armstrong 
and taken quarters there or in the stockade, both of which 
were overcrowded. After the first scare, the settlers wanted 
to go back to their farms and do their spring planting. 
Captain Bliss, who commanded at the fort, yielded to their 
request, and arranged with them a signal of alarm in case 
they or any of them should be attacked, or were in imminent 
danger of an attack, which signal was that they should " fire 
off a gun." When such gun was fired, every one should flee 
to the Island. April 7 Joshua Vandruff and Hackley Samms, 
while crossing Vandruff island, saw a flock of wild turkeys. 
They could not resist the temptation and, creeping within 
range, fired their guns at the flock, each man bringing down 
his bird. The noise of the two guns could be heard all over 
the settlement and it caused the greatest excitement, filling 
the hearts of the settlers with terror. Mothers caught their 
children and fled towards the fort. Those who had horses 
and were plowing, hastily unhitched the animals, loaded their 
families upon the horses and started towards the fort. It is 
said some of the settlers fled pell-mell, leaving their families 
to take care of themselves. Vandruff and Samms soon 
realized their mistake, especially Joshua, when he encountered 
his wife and their ten children running towards the fort. 
When the settlers reached the Mississippi they crowded the 
few skiffs tied to the shore and some came near being 
drowned. Captain Bliss had heard the gunshots and hastily 
called together a company of his regulars and started to meet 
the Indians, while Phil Kearney, who was left in command of 
the fort, began preparing it for a siege. Bliss and his men 
got nearly to Rock River when they met Vandruff and 
Samms running after the fleeing settlers trying to explain the 
mistake. When these two told the captain "how it hap- 
pened," it is said the air became impregnated with sulphur 
so loud and vehemently did that warrior swear. For many 
years afterwards the ' ' turkey scare ' ' was a tender spot with 
Vandruff and Samms. 



65 



BLACK HAWK STARTS. 

The 6th of April, 1832, Black Hawk, with about 1,000 
Indians, including warriors, women, old men and children, 
together with all their possessions, crossed the Mississippi at 
Yellow Banks (Oquawka) and leisurely proceeded up the east 
bank of the river to Rock River and thence up that river to 
his old village where he" camped the night of April 12. The 
next morning he started for the Prophet's village with the 
intention, as he said, " to make corn." There is and always 
has been a question whether Black Hawk, when he crossed 
the Mississippi River and invaded Illinois in 1832, intended 
attacking the Americans, or whether he intended going to the 
Prophet's village merely to raise a crop. If he wanted merely 
to raise a crop he could have done that as easily at the mouth 
of the Des Moines River as at Prophetstown. From Black 
Hawk's biography we learn that the trip to Prophetstown 
was part of his plan to again get control of the site of his 
ancient village and his cornfields. He tells us that while at 
the Des Moines ' ' I concluded that I had better keep my band 
together, and recruit as many more as possible, so that I 
would be prepared to make the attempt to rescue my village 
in the spring." He then, as he says, " tried to recruit braves 
from Keokuk's band," and " requested my people to rendez- 
vous at that place, and sent out soldiers to bring in the 
warriors, and stationed my sentinels in a position to prevent 
any from moving up until all were ready." 

The taking with him his women, children and old men 
would indicate that he did not on that trip contemplate war, 
as no Indian war party ever carries with it the women or 
children. Black Hawk undoubtedly intended taking his 
women and children to the Prophet's village, there to leave 
them to make a crop, and during the summer continue his 
recruiting and possibly in the fall make his attack upon the 
Americans. For had he intended going to war at once he 
would have stopped at his village and there made his 
defense. 

At Yellowbanks the Prophet had met Black Hawk, and 
made a talk to his braves, telling them "that as long as 
they were peaceable the Americans would not dare molest 

66 



them. That wc were not yet ready to act otherwise. We 
imist wait until we ascend Rock River and receiv^e our 
reinforcements and we will then be able to withstand an 
army." 

GENICRAL ATKINvSON COMEvS TO FORT 
ARMSTRONG. 

June v^l, ISM, a war part}^ of nearly 100 vSacs and Foxes 
had attacked a camp of Menominees situated about one half 
a mile about Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien and killed 
twenty-five. Black Hawk says the killed were Sioux and 
Menominees. Between the former and the Sacs and Foxes 
there had always been a bitter and hostile feeling. April 1, 
General Henry Atkinson, then commanding Jefferson Bar- 
racks at St. Louis, received orders to proceed up the Missis- 
sippi and demand from the Sacs and Foxes the principals 
engaged in the murder of the Menominees. Atkinson left St. 
Louis April 8, with six companies of the Sixth Regiment, 220 
men accompanying the expedition. Albert Sidney Johnson, 
afterwards a Confederate general, was a second lieutenant in 
this command. 

April 10, Atkinson's army reached the Des Moines rapids, 
where they were informed that Black Hawk and his warriors 
were marching up the river. The army now hastened to Fort 
Armstrong, arriving there the night of the 12th. The 13th, 
General Atkinson called the Indians then in that vicinity to 
the fort. Among those who came were Keokuk and Wapello. 
Atkinson demanded the murderers of the Menominees and 
these two disclaimed any part in that affair. General Atkin- 
son then started for Fort Crawford and also sent out mes- 
sengers to warn the settlers of Black Hawk's coming. On 
the 19th of the month General Atkinson returned to Fort 
Armstrong. Accompanying him was Lieutenant Colonel 
Zachary Taylor, afterwards President of the United States, 
and two companies of the First Infantry. Before leaving Fort 
Armstrong, General Atkinson had sent a letter to Governor 
Reynolds asking for state aid. 

After Black Hawk passed his old village. General Atkinson 
sent Captain Phil Kearney up Rock River after him, with 

67 



orders for Black Hawk to return and recross the Mississippi, 
which order Black Hawk refused to obey, claiming his mis- 
sion was a peaceful one. 

The news that Black Hawk and his warriors were again 
marching up Rock River alarmed the whole northern frontier 
and the Governor daih^ received messages and messengers. 
George Davenport, the Indian trader on Rock Island, had 
before General Gaines' arrival written him : ' ' From every 
information I have received, I am of the opinion that the 
intention of the British band of Sac Indians is to commit 
depredations on the inhabitants of the frontier." 



THE GOVERNOR "S PROCLAMATION. 

April 16 Governor Reynolds received General Atkinson's 
letter, asking the assistance of the state militia. Promptly 
on the same day the Governor issued the following pro- 
clamation : 



"TO THE MILITIA OF THE NORTHWESTERN 
SECTION OF THE vSTATE. 

Fellow Citizens : 

" Your country requires your services. The Indians have 
assumed a hostile attitude and have invaded the state in vio- 
lation of the treaty of last summer. The British band of Sacs 
and other hostile Indians, headed by Black Hawk, are in 
possession of the Rock River country to the great terror of 
the frontier inhabitants. I consider the settlers on the 
frontier to be in imminent danger. I am in possession of the 
above information from gentlemen of respectable standing, 
and also from General Atkinson, who.se character stands high 
with all classes. In possession of the above facts and infor- 
mation, I have not hesitated as to the course I should pursue. 
No citizen ought to remain inactive when his country is 
invaded, and the helpless part of the community are in dan- 
ger. I have called out a strong detachment of militia to 
rendezvous at Beardstown on the 2 2d inst. Provisions for the 
men and food for the horses will be furnished in abundance. 

68 



I hope my countrymen will realize my expectations and offer 
their services, as heretofore, with promptitude and cheerful- 
ness, in defence of their country." 



The season was wet and backward, and the farmers had 
been delayed in their work but, as in the year 1831, volun- 
teers were eager and willing to offer their services, many of 
the most influential men in the state enlisting and many who 
neither had horses or could procure them marching on foot. 

April 11 the militia left Rushville and marched to Yellow 
Banks (Oquawka) from whence they marched up the Missis- 
sippi to the mouth of Rock River which they reached May 7. 
General Atkinson mustered the troops into the service of the 
United States, and May 9 they commenced their march up Rock 
River. Before marching Governor Reynolds engaged the 
services of Thomas Kenney, a Rock Island settler as a guide, 
Mr. Kenney being able to understand a little of the Sac 
language. In the march up the river General Whiteside with 
part of the army marched on the east bank while the rest of 
the army, under General Atkinson, came up the river in flat 
boats. 




69 



A ROCK ISLAND COMPANY. 

It seems the martial spirit of the citizens of Rock Island 
County was not stilled or satisfied by the march of the Rock 
River Rangers in 1831 from Fort Armstrong to the Watch 
Tower, for in 1832 we find one company enrolled in the ser- 
vice where every member save one was from Rock Island 
County, that one being a brother of the captain, and he came 
from Adams County to enlist under his brother. The follow- 
ing is from the rolls as corrected and now on file in the War 
Department at Washington : 



Name and Rank 


Residence 


Enrolled 


Remarks 


CAPTAIN 




1832 




John W. Kenney - -- 


Rock Island Co. 


May 20 




FIRST LIEUTENANT 








Joseph Danforth 


Rock Island Co. 


May 20 




PRIVATES 








Davis, Thomas 


Rock Island Co. 


May 20 




Danforth, Manly .... 


Rock Island Co. 


July 1 




Danforth, Samuel . . . 


Rock Island Co. 


Mav 20 




Kenney, Samuel .... 


Rock Island Co. 


May 20 


On Furlough 


Kenney, Thomas. . . . 


Adams Co 


June 12 




McGee, Gentry 


Rock Island Co. 


May 20 




McNeal, Henrv .... 


Rock Island Co. 


Mav 20 




McNeal, Neel 


Rock Island Co. 


July 1 




Maskal, James 


Rock Island Co. 


May 20 




Smith, Martin 


Rock Island Co. 


May 20 




Samms, William H. . 


Rock Island Co. 


July 1 




Thompson, Joel . . . - 


Rock Island Co. 


May 20 




Thompson, William . 


Rock Island Co. 


May 20 




Wells, Ira 


Rock Island Co. 
Rock Island Co. 
Rock Island Co. 


Mav 20 
May 20 
May 20 




Wells, Eri 




Wells, Asaph 




Wells, Nelson 


Rock Island Co. 


May 20 




Wells, Rannah 


Rock Island Co. 


Mav 20 




Wells, Joel, Jr 


Rock Island Co. 


May 20 




Wells, Joel, Sr 


Rock Island Co. 


May 20 




Wells, Luke, Sr 


Rock Island Co. 


May 20 





70 



This company was part of an odd mounted battalion, com- 
manded by Major Samuel Bogart, and was called into the 
service of the United States on the requisition of General 
Atkinson, by the Governor's proclamation dated May 20, 
1832. It was mustered out September 4, 1832 at Macomb. 

The companies composing this odd battalion were Captains 
Peter Butter's of Warren County, John W. Kenney's of Rock 
Island County, James White of Hancock County, John Sain's 
of Fulton County, William McMurty's of Knox County and 
Asel F. Ball's of Fulton County. It is impossible to learn 
just what duty the battalion did to which the Rock Island 
company was assigned. Reynolds in "My Own Times" 
says: "On the 12th of June I ordered a battalion to be 
organized and to elect their officers, to guard the frontiers 
between the Mississippi and Peoria on the north of Illinois 
River. Samuel Bogart was elected major of the battalion." 

After being mustered into the service at Fort Armstrong, 
the Rock Island company joined Colonel Moore's regiment 
which had been recruited in \'ermilion and neighboring 
counties, and marched up Rock River to Dixon. From there 
it was assigned to guard duty on the frontier. From another 
authority I learn that it did guard duty on the frontier, drew 
its rations dail}^ ate heartily, played euchre and received the 
remunerative sum of 86 cents per day for each man and his 
horse. Samuel Bogart; the major of the odd battalion to 
which Kenney's company was attached, was before enlist- 
ment a merchant in McDonough County. 




71 



OTHER ROCK ISLAND SOLDIERS. 

Rock Island County furnished more soldiers than those 
given in Captain John W. Kenney's company. I have been 
able to trace but few owing to the fact that the rolls are by 
no means complete. A large number joined the state militia 
and were never sworn into the United States service, con- 
sequently no record was kept and their names will remain 
forever unknown. I have frequently heard certain of our old 
citizens claim to have been in the Black Hawk War, and have 
made diligent search for their names. I give in this sketch 
only such names as appear on record in the reports of the 
War Department. 

AH enlistments were from twenty to thirty days and a 
great many enlisted in another company on the same day that 
their term of enlistment in one company expired. 



ROSWELL H. SPENCER. 

Roswell H. Spencer was a brother of Judge John W. Spen- 
cer and was one of the very early settlers. He seems to have 
been an ardent patriot, having three enlistments to his credit, 
serving out each enlistment, and upon his term of service 
expiring again enlisting in a new company. He enlisted 
first in Captain Thomas Carlin's company which belonged to 
what was known as the spy battalion. He was enrolled May 
10 at Rock Island, and mustered out May 27 at the mouth of 
the Fox River. He again enlisted May 27, 1832, in Captain 
A. W. Snyder's company and was mustered out of service 
June 21, at Dixon's Ferry on Rock River. The same day we 
find him again enlisting in Captain Jacob M. Early's com- 
pany and he was mustered out on White Water River on 
Rock River, July 10, 1832, by order of Brigadier General 
Atkinson, U. S. Army. This was one of the companies in 
which Abraham Lincoln served as a private. 



72 



AT KKTJ.OOO'vS GROVE. 

After Stil|inan"s defeat, Captain Snyder's company was 
sent to Galena, whence it went to Kellog-g's Grove, where 
were several log houses that the company used for their ciuar- 
ters. The night of June 15 several Indians were seen lurking 
around, one of the sentinels having an encounter with one. 
The morning of the 16th, Captain Snyder marched his com- 
pany in pursuit of the Indians. F*or twenty miles they 
followed a circuitous trail which brought them almost back to 
their starting place. Here four Indians were seen, and Sny- 
der's company commenced the attack; all the Indians were 
killed, and one of Snyder's men. On their return to the 
])lock houses they were fired on by a large body of Indians, 
and two more of the company were killed. Snyder's com- 
pany now entered into a general engagement and after several 
hours of battle the Indians withdrew. The loss to Snyder's 
company was three killed and several wounded. With Spen- 
cer in this battle were Lucius and John Wells of this county. 
Serving as privates in this company were Joseph Gillespie, 
Pierre Menard, Richard Roman, James Semple, General 
Samuel Whiteside and other distinguished men. Stephenson 
County has erected on the battle ground a fitting memorial to 
mark the spot. 



THE WELLS FAMILY. 

The Wells family seems to have been a family of fighters. 
We find eleven of them enrolled in the company of Rock 
River Rangers in 1831, and in 1832 we find eight of these 
enrolled in Captain Kenney's company. Lucius Wells and 
John Wells were with Spencer in Captain A. W. Snyder's 
company and were present and participated in the battle of 
Kellogg's Grove. Samuel Wells was also a member of Cap- 
tain Seth Pratt's company of Illinois \'olunteer Militia, 
stationed at Fort Armstrong, in the service of the United 
States from April 21 to June 3, 1832. 



REDDISH, THE TUNNELS AND EAMES. 

In Captain Thomas Carlin's company we find enrolled with 
Roswell H. Spencer, John Reddish, who enlisted at Rock 
Island May 10 ; Luther Tunnel and William Tunnel, who 
were also enrolled that day. The records show that the night 
of May 22 Luther Tunnel lost his horse, account "affright of 
horses," there being a stampede that night. This company 
was part of an odd battalion of spies, commanded by Major 
D. Henry of the brigade of mounted volunteers commanded 
by Brigadier General Samuel Whiteside. It was mustered out 
of the service of the United States at the mouth of Fox River 
on the Illinois River May 27, 1832, and as the company was 
originally mustered in at Carrolton, the men were discharged 
two hundred and thirty miles from the place of their enroll- 
ment. 

John Reddish was also in Captain Samuel Smith's com- 
pany, serving from May 27 to June 15. 

Charles Eames, who was sheriff of this county from 1837 to 
1839, was a member of Captain Enoch Duncan's company of 
Mounted Riflemen, commanded by Colonel H. Dodge. He 
enlisted in company with his brother May 19, 1832. He was 
mustered out of the service September 14, by Lieutenant J, 
R. Gardiner, U. S. Army, by order of Brigadier General 
Gardiner, U. S. Army, by order of Brigadier General H. 
Atkinson. 



74 



CAPTAIN SKTH PRATT'S COMPANY. 

I find a company of Illinois volunteer militia was stationed 
at Fort Armstrong and was in the service of the United States 
from April 21 to June 3, 1832, when it was mustered out. 
This company did garrison duty. The records say it was 
composed of men from Rock Island and adjacent counties, 
but I have been unable to place but one, he being Samuel 
Wells. The roster of the company is : 



Captain : Seth Pratt. 

Lieutenants: John M. Crabtree, Joseph Leister. 

Sergeants: vSiinpson Stewart, William B. Sisk, Elihu Sparks, Abra- 
ham Crabtree. 

Corporals : James Stockton, George Yates, James Keller, James 
Curr}^, Thomas Burton. 

Fifer : James Carr. 



Gordon Acton 
Nathan Bradbury 
Henry Brantly 
C. Birdwell 
Isaac Booth 
Daniel Brock 
Amos Bradley 
John Bradshaw 
John M. Bohvare 
Henry Castlebury 
Stephen L. Cooper 
John Davis 
Samuel Smith 



PRIVATES 

Henry Ford 
William Foster 
Isaac Gulliher 
Par n ell Hamilton 
Harrison Hunlj- 
William Hopper 
Alfred Jackson 
Jonathan Leighton 
Nicholas Long 
James M. Low 
Iredell Lawrence 
Martin Langston 
Samuel Wells 



Larkin B. Langston 
John Letcher 
Henry Melton 
Francis McConnell 
Frederick McDanial 
James New 
Wm. C. Overstreet 
John Pervine » 
William Pointer 
Jonathan Russ 
Andrew Smothers 
Isaac Schmick 



Benjamin Gobel in his reminiscenses speaks of joining a 
company and doing guard duty at the fort, but I do not find 
his name on the roster. 

At the commencement of hostilities, Governor Edwards of 
Illinois appointed George Davenport one of the quarter- 
masters, his commission giving him the rank of colonel. 



75 



THE END OF THE WAR. 

The march of the army up Rock River, the defeat of Major 
Stilhiian's command, the Indian Creek massacre, the battle 
on the Pecatonica, attack on Apple River Fort, at Kellogg' s 
Grove, and other minor skirmishes fast followed one another, 
but as none of these are connected with Rock Island County, 
I leave to the reader the pleasure of reading the histories of 
the Black Hawk War. 

The M. of August, 1832, the slaughter of the Sacs on the 
Mississippi at the mouth of the Bad-Axe virtually ended 
the Black Hawk War. Reynolds in referring to this final 
engagement says : ' ' Although the warriors fought with the 
courage and valor of desperation, yet the conflict resembled 
more a carnage than a regular battle. ' ' Another noted author- 
ity calls it "a dishonorable chapter in the history of the 
borders." Out of the band of nearly one thousand Indians 
wdio crossed the Mississippi at Yellow Banks in April, not 
more than one hundred and fifty lived to tell the story. The 
American loss in this war was about two hundred and fifty. 
The financial cost to the government and the State of Illinois 
was nearly $2,000,000. 

On the 1 7th of August the captured Black Hawk was 
delivered to the Americans by two Winnebagoes. He was 
kept that winter at Jefferson Barracks and in April, 1833, 
was sent as a prisoner to Fortress Monroe where he was con- 
fined until June 4, when he was discharged. After visiting 
the principal cities in the east he returned west, locating on a 
small reservation on the Des Moines River in Davis County, 
Iowa, where he died October 3, 1838. The following year 
his remains were stolen, and in the spring of 1840 Governor 
Lucas succeeded in recovering them and caused the skeleton 
to be delivered at the then capitol at Burlington. When the 
capitol was removed to Iowa City, the remains were taken 
there. January 16, 1855, they were destroyed by fire. 

The final treaty was concluded September 21, 1832. The 
treaty says: "Concluded at Fort Armstrong," but in con- 
sequence of cholera then raging at the fort, the treaty was 
held on the Wi.sconsin side of the Mississippi, now the State 
of Iowa. It was signed on the spot of ground upon which 

76 



Antoine LeClaire's residence was built and the site has 
been appropriately marked by a monument erected by the 
Davenport Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. 
Among the witnesses to this treaty were " Antoine LeClaire, 
interpreter ; Benjamin F. Pike, John W. Spencer and 
George Davenport, Assistant Quarter Master General 
Illinois Militia." 

Black Hawk has been greatly censured and abused, and, by 
some few, praised. We can better judge him today than could 
those whose interests and sympathies during the times from 
1828 to 1832 may have been of a personal nature. 

At the time of the Black Hawk War in 1832, Black Hawk 
was sixty-tive years old. After losing his village and lands, 
after defeat in war, when but few of his people had escaped 
the white man's bullet, after being held a prisoner for some 
months, and upon his release and restoration to freedom, this 
savage who fought for his country said to one of his con- 
querors : "Rock River was a beautiful country. I like 
my towns, my cornfields and the home of my people. I 
fought for it ; it is now yours. It will produce you good 
crops." What white man could sa}^ more? Black Hawk 
was truly the last defender of Illinois. 

It was not ni}^ intention to enter into a detailed account of 
the Black Hawk War. My aim was to put together as many 
of the facts regarding that war as were of local interest and 
try to give to Rock Island County and her citizens such 
credit as is their due for the part they took in that affair. 



77 



ROCK ISLAND SETTLERS IN 1832. 

The following is a list of settlers of this county, as com- 
plete as I have been able to make from the data that I have 
found, in the spring of 1832. Just previous to the breaking 
out of the war in 1832, there was (luite an increase of set- 
tlers, many of whom left. Some stayed during the war and 
then left and I have not been able to learn their names. 



Aubury, Griffith 
Allen, Archibald 
Bain, John L. 
Barrel, John 
Bartlett, Michael 
Burner, Edward 
Brasher, William T. 
Benson, Henry 
Been, Joseph 
BrN^ant, Leonard 
Case, Jonah H. 
Case, Louden, Sr. 
Case, Louden, Jr. 
Case, Charles H. 
Cook, Horace 
Clark, B. W. 
Corbin, Edward 
Carr, William 
Culver, Martin 
Danforth, Manly 
Dan forth, Joseph 
Davis, Thomas 
Dance, Russel 
Davenport, George 
Davidson, Thomas 
Frith, Isaiah 
French, Charles 
Farnham, Russel 
Gardiner, Thomas 
Goble, Benjamin 
Gouqu}', Antoine 



Graft, John 
Haskill, James 
Harlan, George W. 
Hultz, Uriah S. 
Hubbard, Thomas 
Hubbard, Goodridge 
Henderson, Cyrus 
Hail, David E. 
Henry, William 
Heans, William 
Hulls, M. S. 

Haney, 

Johnson, Moses 
Kinney, John W. 
Kinney, vSamuel 
Kinney, Thomas 
Kent, Erastus 
Lovitt, Thomas 
McCoy, Joseph 
McNeil, Henry 
Miller, George V. 
McGee, Gentry 
McNeil, Neel 
Maskal, James 
Noble, Ames C. 
Pence, Judge 
Pike, Benjamin 
Reddish, John 
Syms, Thomas 
Syms, Robert 



Sams, William F. 
Smith, Martin W. 
Stringfield, Sevier 
Smart, Josiah 
Sampson, H. 
vSpencer, John W. 
Spencer, Roswell H. 
Thompson, William 
Thompson, Joel 
Tunnell, Luther 
Tunnell, William 
Vandruff, Joshua 
Vandruff, Henry 
Vandruff, Samuel 
Vanetta, Benjamin 
Yanetta, Gorham 
Varner, Edward 
Wells, Levi 
Wells, George 
Wells, Joel, Sr. 
Wells, Joel, Jr. 
Wells, Huntington 
Wells, John 
Wells, Samuel 
Wells, Rinnah 
Wells, Asaph 
Wells, Eri 
Wells, Ira 
Wells, Nelson 
Wells, Lucius 



The Kinney s above mentioned are the same whose names 
in the ro.ster of the War Department are given as Kenney. 



78 




BLACK HAWK. 



Part IV 

Fort Armstrong — Its Erection in iSi6, x^ttempted 
Capture, Roster of its Commandants, The Powder 
Plot, As it Appeared in 1829, "^"^^^ Burning of the 
Fort in 1855. 



Part IV 



FORT ARMSTRONG. 

The treaty of Ghent, December 24, 1814, ended the war of 
1812, but the failure of the American arms on the Upper 
Mississippi, the defeat and disaster of our three river expedi- 
tions by the Indians in that year, spread a feeling of gloom 
and uncertainty over all the settlers in the then northwest 
country. The Pre-emption Act of Congress, however, had 
the effect of causing the tide of emigration to set into Illinois. 
In order to afford our settlers better protection the War 
Department decided to erect a number of forts on the Upper 
Mississippi, at such points where they would prove the most 
serviceable. 

In his letter dated September 5, 1805, to General James 
Wilkinson, L,ieutenant Pike says: "l have chosen three 
places for militar}^ establishments." None of these, however, 
was on the island of Rock Island. Yet Pike describes the site 
of Fort Armstrong as one that is suitable, if objection is 
made to the one chosen being on the west side of the river, 
and says there is " no water but that of the Mississippi." 

During the war of 1812 the country around the mouth of 
Rock River had been the seat of most of the Indian trouble. 
Here was the leader of the Indians in this section of the 
country, and here was the largest Indian village, and its 
inhabitants were unfriendly to the Americans. 

In September, 1815, the Eighth United States Infantry, un- 
der command of Colonel R. C. Nichols, left St. Louis for the 
upper river to locate and build a fort somewhere near the 
mouth of Rock River in the then Indian country, so that 
white settlers might have protection from the numerous tribes 
who had, previous to this, been incited against the Americans 
by the British soldiers and traders. In November the expedi- 

81 



tion had only reached the Des Moines River, where it went 
into winter quarters. During the winter Colonel Nichols was 
placed under arrest and Brevet Lieutenant Colonel William 
Lawrence, major of the regiment, was placed in charge. In 
April, 1816, Brevet Brigadier General Thomas A. Smith, colo- 
nel of the rifle regiment, arrived with his regiment and took 
command. The expedition proceeded up the river, arriving 
at the mouth of Rock River early in May. The foot of 
the island of Rock Island was selected as the site for the fort 
and May 10 the troops were landed on the island and set to 
work cutting trees and quarrying rock. General Smith 
remained on the island only until proper shelter, protection 
and defense had been prepared for the troops and then with 
his rifle regiment went up the river to Prairie du Chien. 
Before leaving General Smith sent a messenger to the Sacs 
and Foxes at their village on Rock River inviting them to a 
council, but they refused to come. 

The Eighth Infantry under Colonel Lawrence proceeded 
with the construction of the fort which, when completed, was 
named Fort Armstrong, in honor of General John Armstrong, 
then Secretary of War. The fort was 400 feet square, the 
lower half of the walls being of stone and the upper half of 
hewn logs. At the northeast, southeast and southwest 
angles block houses were built. The fort was at the extreme 
northwest angle, the corner of the fort being about 200 feet 
from the island end of the present bridge. 

About the time the fort was completed the Indians began 
crossing to the i.sland and would watch the soldiers in its con- 
struction. They would often sing and go through some of 
their dances to amuse the soldiers, and the latter began to 
think that the Indians were peaceful. The Hon. Bailey 
Davenport described an incident during this time that shows 
that the Indians had not become reconciled to the erecting of 
the fort. He said: "One day a small party came over to 
dance, and after the dance the colonel in command gave them 
presents. In a few days after, and while a large number of 
soldiers were out cutting timber, a large party of warriors, 
headed by the Ne-ka-le-quat, came over in canoes and landed 
on the north side of the island, and danced up to the entrance 
of the encampment, and wanted to enter and dance in front of 

82 



the commander's tent. About the same time a large party 
of warriors was discovered approaching over the ridge from 
the south side of the island, headed by Keokuk. The colonel 
immediately ordered the bugle sounded to recall the soldiers 
from the woods, and had all under arms (about 600) and 
the cannon run out in front of the entrance, ready to fire. 
The Indians were ordered not to approach any nearer. The 
colonel, taking the alarm before Keokuk's party got near 
enough to rush in, saved the encampment from surprise and 
massacre." 

Black Hawk does not mention this. In speaking of the 
building of the fort he said, "We did not, however, try to 
prevent their building the fort on the island, but we were 
very sorry, as this was the best island on the Mississippi, and 
had long been the resort of our young people during the sum- 
mer. It was our garden (like the white people have near 
their big villages), which supplied us with strawberries, 
blackberries, plums, apples, and nuts of various kinds ; and 
its waters supplied us with pure fish, being situated in the 
rapids of the river. In my early life I spent many happy 
days on this island." 




83 



ROSTER AT THE FORT. 

The officers and troops stationed at Fort Armstrong from 
August, 1819 (first return on file), until abandoned May 4, 
1836, were as follows: 



Commanding Officers 



Lt. Col. Willoughby Morgan 
Capt. M. Marston 5th Inf. . 
Capt. S. Burbank, 5th Inf. . 
Maj. J. H. Vose, 5th Inf. 
Capt. vS. Burbank, 5th Inf. . 
Maj. J. 11. Vose, 5th Inf. . . 
Capt. J. Plvmpton, 5th Inf. . 
Maj. S. Bnrbank, 5th Inf. . . 
Capt. J. Green, 3d Inf. . . . 
Capt. J. vS. Nelson, 3d Inf. . 
Capt. J. Green, 3d Inf. . . . 
Capt. John Bliss, 3d Inf. . . 
Capt. T. J. Beall, 1st Inf. . . 
Maj. John Bliss, 1st Inf. . . 
Capt. T. J. Beall, 1st Inf. . . 
Lieut. A. S. Miller, 1st Inf. . 
Capt. T. F. Smith, 1st. Inf. . 
Lt. Col. W. Davenport, 1st Inf. 



1819 
Aug., 1819 
June, 1821 
June, 1823 
June 4, 1825 
May 21, 1826 
Oct. 9, 1827 
Apr. 28, 1828 
Apr. 30, 1828 
June, 1828 
Aug. 13,1828 
July 27, 1830 
July 26, 1831 
vSept. 2, 1831 
May 4, 1832 
Oct. 26, 1832 
Dec. 2, 1832 
June 8, 1833 



To 



June, 1821 
June, 1823 
June 4, 1825 
May 21, 1826 
Oct. 9, 1827 
Apr. 28, 1828 
Apr. 30, 1828 
June, 1828 
Aug. 13, 1828 
July 27, 1830 
July 26, 1831 
Sept. 2, 1831 
May 4. 1832 
Oct. 26, 1832 
Dec. 2, 1832 
June 8, 1833 
May 4, 1836 



Garrison 



Co. F, 
Co. D, 
Cos. D 
Cos. D 
Cos. E 
Cos. E 
Cos. E 
Cos. C 
Cos. C 
Cos. C 
Cos. D 
Cos. C 
Cos. C 
Cos. C 
Cos. C 
Cos. G 



Inf. 
Inf. 



5th In'. 
5th Inf. 
6t F, 5th 
& F, 5th 
& H, 5th Inf. 
& H, 5th Inf. 
& II, 5th Inf. 
& G, 3d Inf. 
& G, 3d Inf. 
& G, 3d Inf. 
& H, 3d Inf. 
& K, 1st Inf. 

1st Inf. 

1st Inf. 



& K 
& K 

& K, 1st 
& K, 
Cos. G & K, 



Inf. 
1st Inf. 
1st Inf. 



May 4, 1836, the fort was evacuated and the troops sent to 
Fort. Snelling. Eieutenant Colonel William Davenport was 
in command at that time and he left Lieutenant John Beach 
of the infantry in charge with a few men to take care of the 
property. The fort was never re-garrisoned. November, 
"1836, Lieutenant Beach was ordered away and all the 
property was removed. From 1836 to 1838, General Street, 
Indian agent, had charge of the island, and he was succeeded 
by Colonel George Davenport who had been appointed Indian 
agent. In 1840 some of the buildings were repaired and an 
ordnance depot established at the fort, Captain W. R. Shoe- 
maker having charge until 1845, when the depot was broken 
up and the goods removed to St. Louis. Thomas L. Drum 
of Rock Island was custodian from 1845 to 1853. Ordnance 
Sergeant Cummings was in charge for a short time in 1853 
and 1854; J. B. Danforth from 1854 to 1857, and H. Y. Sly- 
maker from 1857 to 1863. 

84 



THE POWDKR PLOT. 

Be it truth or fiction there is connected with the history of 
Fort Armstrong an incident that to my mind possesses more 
reasons in favor of its being fact than fiction. At the north 
side of the lower end of the island was a cave, which is now 
closed. This cave extended quite a way into the island and 
was directly underneath the main gate of the fort, the eastern 
end of the present government bridge being over and at its 
mouth. This cave was sacred to the Sacs. Black Hawk said, 
"A good spirit had care of it (meaning Rock Island), who 
lived in a cave in the rocks immediately under the place 
where the fort now stands, and has often been seen by our 
people. He was white, with large wings like a swan's, but 
ten times larger. We were particular not to make much 
noise in that part of the island which he inhabited for fear 
of disturbing him. But the noise of the fort has since driven 
him away, and no doubt a bad spirit has taken his place." 

After the Black Hawk War in 1832, some soldiers happen- 
ing to enter the cave found three kegs of powder each attached 
to a fuse. No one seemed to know how these things had 
come there, but after the war some Indians had said that 
Black Hawk when he marched up Rock River in April, 1832, 
stopped overnight at his old village, and during the night of 
April 12 he, with over two hundred braves, had gone to the 
island, crossing at the ford between Rock Island and Moline, 
remaining there nearly- all night. It was said his intention 
was to see if he could not capture the fort. Black Hawk, in 
his avitobiography, does not mention this incident, the reason 
being that his attempt to blow up the fort proved a failure. 
It is a fact that Black Hawk was on the island that night. 
Benjamin F. Pike, the captain of the Rock River Rangers in 
1831, and afterwards sheriff of this county, together with two 
companions, had been selected to do picket and scout dut>' 
that night. They took their place near the ford, and some 
time near midnight saw Black Hawk and his braves cross the 
slough to the island. They at once ran to the fort and to the 
stockade and gave the warning. 

The garrison at this time was commanded by Captain Bliss 
who had with him only two companies of infantry, partly 

85 



full, not over eighty men. The stockade around Colonel 
Davenport's store was filled with settlers and their families 
and was crowded to its utmost capacity. By an oversight 
the only well on the premises had not been enclosed in the 
stockade. Dreading fire from the Indians' fire arrows, every 
bucket, tub and barrel was hastily filled with water and the 
anxious settlers momentarily awaited the attack. An old 
swivel had been brought up from the fort and this was loaded 
to the brim and placed in front of the gate, where Sergeant 
Hanchett of the garrison, with a smoldering fire by his side, 
stood ready to fire it off at the first approach of the enemy. 
The night was one of terror to the settlers; a drifting rain and 
pelting hail storm had set in, and the occasional claps of 
thunder and flashes of lightning but added new alarm to the 
already frightened women and children. At about 2 o'clock 
in the morning the firing of cannon was heard from the direc- 
tion of the fort and those in the stockade believed the attack 
had commenced, but they were soon apprized that the firing 
was from the cannon on board the steamer Chieftain, which 
brought General Atkinson and his regulars from St. Louis. 

It is said that when the people at the stockade heard the 
firing of cannon and the shouts of the garrison welcoming 
the reinforcement, they believed it the shouts of triumph of 
the Indians at the capture of the fort, and Elder Kinney 
of Rapids City, a devout Presbyterian, advised them all to 

unite in an appeal to God as their only hope of .safety ' ' ; 
whereupon Antoine Gouquy, Colonel Davenport's French 
servant, said, " Ze prayer he be good for ze vimmin an ze 
childer, but he be not wort one cent to fight ze Injins. 
Wattair, he be bettair zan ze prayer." 

Black Hawk had been with the British so much that he 
well knew the use of gunpowder. He was in the attack on 
the fort at Detroit and undoubtedly believed he could with a 
few kegs of powder blow up the fort at its gate and the rock 
embankment upon which it stood, and then with his braves 
rush in on the weak garrison. The Sac chief knew that the 
fort was but weakly garrisoned. The Prophet had several 
times attempted to enter its gate, but had been kept out on 
the orders of Major Bliss, who suspected treachery. The last 
attempt of the Prophet to enter the fort was but a few days 

86 



before Black Hawk's attempt to capture it. He knew that 
General Atkinson had not arrived and as he went from there 
down the river and met Black Hawk and his band he certainly 
communicated to him all the information he had secured. 

Caleb Atwater, who visited the fort in 1829, in writing 
about it said: "Setting down a pair of compasses large 
enough to extend thirty-five miles around the lower end of 
Rock Island and taking a sweep around it, you would have 
within the circle the handsomest and most delightful spot of 
the same size on the whole globe, so far as nature can 
produce anything called beautiful. The island lies in latitude 
41 degrees 30 minutes, is two miles in length, and contains 
above two thousand acres of land. The extreme lower end is 
occupied by Fort Armstrong and the village of Rock Island. 
After passing through several feet of rich alluvial soil in 
perforating the earth, you come to limestone rock, which 
forms the foundation of this island. Passing around this 
island, which is long and narrow, you everywhere see the 
rock on which the fort and village stand. The lower end of 
the island is high and dry above the river, whereas the upper 
end is overflowed in high waters, and all the upper end of 
the island is covered with a forest of excellent timber trees. 
The main channel of the river is on the western side of the 
island, and that part of the Mississippi is half a mile in width, 
whereas in a low stage of the water, as when we saw it, the 
eastern branch of the river is not more than twenty rods wide 
perhaps, though so deep that it is ferried constantly . from the 
island to the mainland. When we were there, the ground 
where the fort stood was twenty feet or more above the sur- 
face of the river; ten or more feet of it were limestone rock, 
from the water upwards. The officers have adjoining the fort 
a most beautiful garden regularly laid out, with graveled 
walks, in which are cultivated beets, carrots, onions, potatoes, 
corn, and every vegetable growing in this climate. Nothing 
could exceed this garden in fruitfulness, and every leaf 
appeared to shine in luxuriance. The gourd seed corn was 
fit to roast, the beets had attained a good size, and so had the 
potatoes, beans and carrots. The village adjoins the fort on 
the north, and a few families live here, Mr. Davenport, who W 
keeps a store for the American Fur Company, being a princi- 

87 



pal man among them. The sutler has a store here in addition 
to the company's store. Mr. Davenport is an Englishman, 
and formerly liv-ed at Cincinnati, where I became acquainted 
with him. His son-in-law and a few others live on the 
island. With such persons I was happy to meet in the far 
west." 

THE BURNING OF THE FORT. 

For thirty-nine years the fort stood as first constructed, 
and though evacuated and no longer the abode of the soldier 
since 1836, it was used as a Government warehouse and was 
a picturesque sight, being an object of interest to all travelers 
up and down the river as well as to visitors to this locality. 

On Sunday afternoon, October 7, 1855, some vandal set 
fire to the historic buildings. J. B. Danforth, Jr., agent of 
the quartermasters department of the army, in charge at that 
time, in a letter written on the 9th of the month to Major D. 
H. Vinton, Quartermaster U. S. A. at St. Louis, said, "Sir: 
The barracks and one block fort at this place were destroyed 
by fire yesterday (Sunday) afternoon. I was in the city at 
church at the time the fire originated. I immediately 
rallied about a hundred men with buckets, and endeavored 
to quell the flames, but to no purpose. We had no fire 
engine, and it was impossible to stay the progress of the con- 
flagration. The buildings were fired by some persons to me 
unknown, and in the following manner: About thirty kegs 
of powder had been stored in the magazine by the contractors 
for the improvement of the rapids, by permission of the 
Secretary of War. The magazine had several times been 
broken open and powder stolen. It was then stored in a safe 
room, or what was believed to be safe, in the barracks. It 
had all been taken away, except one keg and one or two parts 
of kegs. Some persons, while I was at church, had broken 
open a window and ignited a part of a keg of powder, thus 
causing the loss of the buildings. I have published an adver- 
tisement (at my own expense) to endeavor to find out the 
perpetrators of the outrage, which I hope will meet your 
approval. I send you a copy of my paper, containing the 
advertisement and an editorial notice of the fire." L,OFC 

88 



^ > 



l^^.'d 



«,■ 



When the United vStates (jovernment (under the Act of 
1S62) commenced the construction of Rock Island Arsenal 
in 1863, all that remained of Fort Armstrong was removed. 
The first building erected stands nearly on the site of the old 
fort, and the window frames of the basement of this building 
are made of oak obtained from the old fort. 

Fort Armstrong in the early days was quite a military post 
though no hostile shot was ever fired against its walls. It 
answered the purposes for which it was built, to keep in check 
the Indians and offer protection to the American settlers. It 
has been the home and visiting place of many men who have 
become prominent in our nation's history. 




89 



Part V 

Political Divisions — Our Count}- Once Claimed b}^ 
Spain, Ruled by France, A British Province, Part 
of Virginia, Has Been a Part of Six Counties, The 
First American Flag in the "Upper Mississippi" 
Valley. 



Part V 



POLITICAL DIVISIOXvS. 

The fortunes of Rock Island County have been those of the 
State of Illinois. In 1541 Ferdinand De Soto discovered the 
Mississippi River, crossing it somewhere near Memphis : and 
upon this discovery rested Spain's claim and title to the " far 
west." The country now known as the State of Illinois is 
shown on the very early Spanish maps as a part of Florida. 
Spain made no attempt, however, to plant her settlements in 
the " Illinois." 

In 1673 Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette, the latter a 
lesuit priest, were sent from New France (Canada) by the 
intendant, Jean Talon, to discover the Mississippi River and 
to explore the regions through which it flowed. In June of 
that year their great desire was gratified and they floated 
down the Mississippi to a point near where Helena, Arkansas, 
now is. From there they retraced their journey, until they 
came to where the Illinois River empties into the Mississippi. 
They went up the Illinois and by the then portage to Lake 
Michigan. In 1680 Robert Cavalier de La Salle erected Fort 
Creve Coeur at Peoria, and from this time on until 1763 
Illinois was a French province. 

In 1763, at the close of the French and Indian Wars, 
Illinois became British Territory, and so remained until 
July 4, 1778, when Colonel George Rogers Clark and his 
Virginians captured the British forts and settlements. In 
October of that year Illinois was by act of the General 
A.ssembly of Virginia created the "County of Illinois," and 
became a part of the commonwealth of Virginia. 

During the Revolutionary War, Illinois and what is now 
the states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, was 

93 



claimed by each of the states of New York, Massachusetts, 
Connecticut and Virginia. In 1785 these states surrendered 
their claim to the General Government, and then Congress 
passed an act for the government of this country which was 
designated "Western Territory," but nothing was done 
towards organizing a form of government. On July 13, 
1787, Congress passed the celebrated ordinance known as the 
" Ordinance of 1787," for the government of this country, 
then called the "Northwest Territory." In 1788 the first 
officers were appointed. In 1790 the country now Illinois, 
was established as St. Clair County, named after General 
Arthur St. Clair, the first governor of the Northwest 
Territory. 

In this year Illinois County became part of Indiana Terri- 
tory, and in 1809 the country west of the Wabash, north of 
the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, was erected into Illinois 
Territory, which was divided into two counties — Randolph 
and St. Clair — the territory now Rock Island County forming 
part of St. Clair County. On September 14, 1812, our 
county became a part of Madison County, and on January 31, 
1821, we were made a part of Pike County. This was the 
first county erected by the State of Illinois. 

January 28, 1823, Fulton County was erected from Pike 
County, and we became a part of the former, and so remained 
until January 13, 1825, when we became a part of Peoria 
County. On February 17, 1827, Jo Daviess County was 
erected from Peoria County, and Galena became our county 
seat. We remained part of Jo Daviess County until 1833, 
when Rock Island County was organized, with the boundaries 
as they exist today. 

The Ordinance of 1787 provided for the forming of one or 
two states out of the territory now the states of Wisconsin 
and Illinois. The ordinance provided that the northern 
boundary of the territory now Illinois should be an east and 
west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of 
Lake Michigan. Had this provision been carried out when 
Illinois was erected into a state in 1818, that part of Rock 
Island County east of Moline would now be in Wisconsin. 

When the bill to admit Illinois as a state was presented to 
Congress and referred to the committee, our northern bound- 

94 



ary was as defined in the Ordinance of 1787, which would 
have left out of our state the counties of Lake, McHenry, 
Boone, Winnebago, Stephenson, Jo Daviess, Carroll, Ogle, 
DeKalb, Kane, Du Page, Cook, I,ee, Whiteside, and also 
a portion of Kendall, Will, La vSalle and Rock Island counties. 

In 1816 the United States made a treaty with the Ottawa, 
Chippewa and Pottawattomie Indians, and it became neces- 
sary to establish the point where a line ' ' due west from the 
southern extremity of Lake Michigan" would strike the 
Mississippi River. Such a line was surveyed by John Sulli- 
van in 1818, and a monument was erected at its terminus, 
"on the bank of the Mississippi River near the head of Rock 
Island." This place is between Seventeenth and P)ighteenth 
streets in the City of Moline, and is now occupied by the 
Moline city waterworks. 

Alexander Pope, the representative from Illinois in Con- 
gress, was fully aliv^e to the interests of his constituenc>-. 
Mr. Pope asked to strike out of the bill the description which 
bounded Illinois on the north by a line drawn directly west 
from the southerly boundary of Lake Michigan, and insert 
the following: "Beginning at the mouth of the Wabash 
River, thence up the same and with the line of Indiana to 
the northwest corner of said state ; thence east with the line 
of the same state to the middle of Lake Michigan ; thence 
north along the middle of said lake to north latitude 42 
degrees 30 minutes ; thence west to the middle of the Mi.ssis- 
sippi River, and thence down along the middle of that river 
to its confluence with the Ohio River, and thence up the 
river along its northwest shore to the beginning." This 
carried. 

The northern boundary of Illinois was thus fixed, and was 
made to include a strip of land sixty-one miles, nineteen 
chains and thirteen links wide, extending from Lake Michi- 
gan to the Mississippi River, embracing a surface of 8,500 
square miles. The line surveyed by Sullivan in 1818 was 
accepted as a true line until 1833, when Captain Talcott, 
while making the survey of the Ohio- Michigan boundary, 
was in.structed to ascertain the point on the Mississippi River 
which is due west from the southern extremity of Lake 

95 



Michigan. He established this point as being " about seven 
miles north of the fort (Armstrong) on Rock Island." 

From 1829 to 1848 the question of adding these fourteen 
northern and a portion of the four other Illinois counties to 
Wisconsin was a prominent one in the northern part of the 
state. Strange to say, for many years most of the people 
living in the northern part of the state were in favor of being 
added to Wisconsin ; but when Wisconsin was admitted as a 
state in 1848 its southern boundary line was fixed at the here- 
tofore established northern boundary of the State of Illinois, 
and thus was forever settled what for man}' years was a sub- 
ject of much dispute. 



RALSING THE FIRvST FI.AO. 

On August 9, 1805, Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike, an ofhcer 
in the United States army, in command of twenty soldiers, 
left St. lyouis under instructions from the Government to trace 
the sources of the Mississippi River, ascertain the condition of 
the Indians, create a better feeling between them and the 
Americans and to select certain sites upon which to erect forts. 
The party made the voyage in a keel boat seventy feet long, 
and on August 9 , 1805, the party arrived at the mouth of 
Rock River. 

Black Hawk in his autobiography says : 
Some time afterwards a boat came up the river with a 
young American chief, at that time lyieutenant, and afterwards 
General Pike, and a small party of soldiers aboard. The boat 
at length arrived at Rock River and the young chief came on 
shore with his interpreter. He made us a speech and gave us 
some presents, in return for which we gave him meat and such 
other provisions as we could spare. 

We were well pleased with the speech of the young chief. 
He gave us good advice and said our American father would 
treat us well. He presented us an American flag which we 
hoisted. He then requested us to lower the British colors, 
which were waving in the air, and to give him our British 
medals, promising to send us others on his return to St. Louis. 
This we declined to do, as we wished to have two fathers." 

96 



The event related by Black Hawk, and occnrring at the old 
Sac \'illage on Rock River, in August, 1805, was the first 
raising and- unfurling of the United States flag in the valley of 
the upper Mississippi River. All the country west of the 
Mississippi had until October, 1803, belonged to Spain, and 
Lieutenant Pike was the first American representative to navi- 
gate the Mississippi north of St. Louis. 

OUR PIONEERS. 

To know the pioneers of Rock Island County, we must read 
their reminiscences, and the history of their times. Concern- 
ing them but little can be found. The pioneer had no news- 
papers to chronicle events, no time to write a diary of daily 
happenings. His life was a continuation of struggles to secure 
food for his family, a constant anxiety for their safety and 
his own. 

Our pioneers came when the edge of civilization was still 
sixty miles towards the rising sun. This county was the 
domain of the savage. These men and women formed the 
outposts of civilization. We cannot realize the dangers they 
braved, the hardships they endured. 

War is dreadful in whatever land or time, but Indian war- 
fare always possessed a terror unknown to combat among 
civilized foes. It was the stealthy night attack, the sacking 
and burning of the home, the butchery of wife and children, 
the ambush and the scalping knife — these were the incidents 
that occurred, and which were ever dreaded by our pioneers. 
When our citizens volunteered in the Black Hawk War, they 
knew the foe they must contend with. Some met the savage 
in mortal combat. A few were sacrifices to civilization's 
onward march. The majority met with no opportunity to 
test their mettle, but all entered for the contest, all knew 
what to expect, and all are deserving" of the highest praise and 
honor, because they did what they believed was their duty. 

As the welfare of the individual is bound up in the welfare 

of his community and state, we of today can teach the coming 

generation no better lesson than to revere and honor the 

memories of those pioneers whose hardships and struggles 

made it possible for us to enjoy today the many comforts and 

blessings met on everv hand. 

97 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



I I! >l 



014 752 977 6 



